What this episode is about?

Nobody comes to Canada with expectation of not being successful. Immigration to a new country, however, often puts newcomers into unfortunate circumstances. Too many immigrants are unable to fulfill their potential because their professional certification is not valid in Canada. Getting certified in Canada is challenging to the absolute majority of newcomers, as it requires significant financial resources. Financial challenges are aggravated by the fact that newcomers often have low credit scores in Canada and thus are subject to terrible interest rates for their loans.

Well, there is a solution to this “no money – no certification, no certification – no money” loop!

Windmill provides microloans of up to $15,000 to skilled immigrants and refugees so they can succeed in their careers. They support clients to obtain the Canadian licensing or training required to work in their field, or to secure a position which matches their level of education, skills, and experience. Their loans can pay for exams, training, assessments, books and materials, living allowance, relocation costs, professional association fees, and other expenses related to advancing their career.

Thanks to these loans newcomers are included in the labor market in Canada and can compete for high wage jobs fully applying their foreign experience and knowledge. Higher wages mean higher taxes. As a result newcomers pay higher taxes and spend their hard-earned money in Canada thus stimulating economy.

About today’s guest of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

Paula Calderon

National Director, Client Success

Originally from Colombia, Paula has spent her career leading workforce development projects that support the economic integration of newcomers to Canada. In the past, she pioneered ESL programs, worked on paid internship programs and oversaw various employment services and bridging programs supporting internationally trained professionals. She has also worked as a professor in the Career Development Practitioner program at George Brown College, has served as a mentor to newcomers and is the former President of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Colombian Professional Association. In 2018, Paula completed the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunity program and became an Aspen Institute Economic Opportunity Fellow.

You can reach out to Paula via:

• LinkedIn: Windmill Microlending
• Twitter: @windmillcanada
• Facebook: Windmill Microlending

Contact Windmill Microlending: 1-855-423-2262, windmillmicrolending.org

About the host of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

Mark Holthe is a Canadian Immigration Lawyer based in Lethbridge, Alberta. He has started his legal career with a large national law firm in Calgary where he initiated the business immigration practice at the firm. Since those early days, he has had the opportunity to work in a wide variety of law firm configurations before finally realizing that the best place for him was within the confines of an immigration boutique firm of his own making.

As a Canadian immigration lawyer, Mark has particular experience in assisting clients with all aspects of Canadian immigration law. He assists large national and multinational companies in navigating the complex world of Canadian immigration and provides strategic immigration advice to international and domestic companies seeking to recruit and retain foreign skilled and semi-skilled personnel.

Mark also assists temporary foreign workers with their transition to permanent resident status in Canada and over the past few years, he has taken great satisfaction in helping individuals and families with their various immigration related needs. Mark finds no greater satisfaction than helping to facilitate the reunification of families.

While attending law school, Mark worked as an Immigration officer for Citizenship and Immigration Canada on the Alberta/Montana border. While completing his final year of law school, he worked as a pro bono student to the Canada Border Services Agency Hearings Officers representing the minister before the Immigration Appeal Division in Calgary, Alberta. As a result of his prior experience as an immigration officer, Mark has been able to enhance the services he offers to his cross-border and overseas clients. Since that time, he has continued to work hard fostering positive relationships with the various immigration related government departments and has focused a significant portion of his practice on cross-border matters.

About the Sponsor of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

This episode sponsored by Canadian Immigration Institute, a platform designed to help people navigate Canadian immigration on their own. On this platform, I offer Do-It-Yourself (DIY) video courses guiding you through the process of submitting your immigration application without a need to hire a lawyer. These video courses not only allow people to better understand Canadian immigration but also earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian immigration.

Visit Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com

Listen to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify and iTunes

Canadian Immigration Podcast is being broadcasted on our iTunes and Spotify channels. If you have enjoyed this podcast and think someone else would, too, please subscribe and share this episode!

Subscribe to our various social media channels

If you want to connect with me or retain Holthe Immigration Law to assist you with immigration to Canada feel free to book a consultation on our official website: www.holthelaw.com

Additionally, consider subscribing to our social media channels to stay up to date with the news on Canadian Immigration:

Canadian Immigration Institute Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvm03Tm2e-ndNkWhiiQUlA

Canadian Immigration Institute Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianImmigrationInstitute

Express Entry Law Private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CanadianImmigrationInstitute

Holthe Immigration Law LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/holthe-business-immigration-law

Holthe Immigration Law Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/holthe.immigration.law/

Holthe Immigration Law Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/HoltheLaw

What this episode is about?

We all know that love knows no boundaries. However, in reality there are a lot of obstacles international couples may need to go around if they want to stay together and not being separated by the border.

In this episode I invite Alicia Backman-Beharry, an amazing Canadian Immigration Lawyer who joined Holthe Immigration Law in August of 2020, to discuss spousal sponsorship applications. We talk about the differences between Inside and Outside Canada Sponsorships, benefits and drawbacks of each type of the application, as well as reasons why your Spouse or Common-Law Partner Class or Family Class application can be refused.

COVID-19 and the travel restriction also had a significant impact on the processing of the Spousal Sponsorship applications. Alicia and I discussed how this global pandemic impacted applicants and how IRCC takes a ruthless approach of refusing applications for frivolous mistakes, in attempt to keep the processing time down.

I definitely recommend that you listen to this episode carefully, because even slightest mistake can crush your plans of sponsoring your loved ones. Also, take a note of tips we provide that can help you make sure your application is not refused:

1. Examine and follow your Documents Checklist with forensic level of details

2. Provide sufficient proof of genuineness of your relationships

3. Provide an explanation along with your application if any of the documents or questions do not apply to your situation.

4. Make sure you have added your signatures and validated your forms

5. Ensure your photos meet the requirements.

If you want to learn more about the difference between Spouse or Common-Law Partner Class and Family Class applications Alicia Backman-Beharry prepared a wonderful blogpost that covers everything you need to know about these two applications. Check the blog post here: https://www.holthelaw.com/spousal-sponsorship-canada/

About today’s guest of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

Alicia Backman-Beharry has practiced as an immigration lawyer for 17 years. She was called to the Alberta bar in 2003 and was an associate with a medium sized firm and a boutique immigration law firm. Alicia went out on her own as a sole practitioner 8 years ago. She works with corporations, individuals and other lawyers to solve difficult immigration legal issues. Prior to joining the Holthe Immigration Law team, she also contributed as a part-time program lawyer at a non-profit poverty law clinic.

She finds it rewarding to help individuals and companies through the complex world of Canadian Immigration law. Having taught courses on temporary and permanent residence, Alicia is able to see how various pieces of the immigration puzzle fit together, and can provide advice so that people understand which application to pursue and why.

During her career as Immigration Lawyer Alicia Backman-Beharry has assisted with a wide range of business immigration matters, including applications for Labour Market Impact Assessments, work permits, Intra-company transfers, and Employer Compliance Reviews. She also has extensive experience with Permanent Residence applications including Express Entry, Provincial Nominee Program, Humanitarian and Compassionate, and family class sponsorships. While working with the poverty law clinic, she routinely helped people with inadmissibility issues, refugee matters, restoration applications, and temporary residence permits. She has appeared before various Courts and Tribunals, including Federal Court, Provincial Court, the Court of Queen’s Bench, the Immigration and Refugee Board, the Immigration Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division.

Volunteering has always been a big part of how Alicia spends her time. She enjoyed 9 years on the Board of a large immigrant serving settlement organization, including serving as Secretary, Vice-Chair, Chair and Past-Chair of the Board and is a past Chair of the Immigration and Citizenship Law Alberta South Section of the Canadian Bar Association.

You can book a consultation with Alicia Backman-Beharry on our Holthe Immigration Law website: www.holthelaw.com/consultation

About the host of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

Mark Holthe is a Canadian Immigration Lawyer based in Lethbridge, Alberta. He has started his legal career with a large national law firm in Calgary where he initiated the business immigration practice at the firm. Since those early days, he has had the opportunity to work in a wide variety of law firm configurations before finally realizing that the best place for him was within the confines of an immigration boutique firm of his own making.

As a Canadian immigration lawyer, Mark has particular experience in assisting clients with all aspects of Canadian immigration law. He assists large national and multinational companies in navigating the complex world of Canadian immigration and provides strategic immigration advice to international and domestic companies seeking to recruit and retain foreign skilled and semi-skilled personnel.

Mark also assists temporary foreign workers with their transition to permanent resident status in Canada and over the past few years, he has taken great satisfaction in helping individuals and families with their various immigration related needs. Mark finds no greater satisfaction than helping to facilitate the reunification of families.

While attending law school, Mark worked as an Immigration officer for Citizenship and Immigration Canada on the Alberta/Montana border. While completing his final year of law school, he worked as a pro bono student to the Canada Border Services Agency Hearings Officers representing the minister before the Immigration Appeal Division in Calgary, Alberta. As a result of his prior experience as an immigration officer, Mark has been able to enhance the services he offers to his cross-border and overseas clients. Since that time, he has continued to work hard fostering positive relationships with the various immigration related government departments and has focused a significant portion of his practice on cross-border matters.

About the Sponsor of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

This episode sponsored by Canadian Immigration Institute, a platform designed to help people navigate Canadian immigration on their own. On this platform, I offer Do-It-Yourself (DIY) video courses guiding you through the process of submitting your immigration application without a need to hire a lawyer. These video courses not only allow people to better understand Canadian immigration but also earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian immigration.

Visit Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com

Listen to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify and iTunes

Canadian Immigration Podcast is being broadcasted on our iTunes and Spotify channels. If you have enjoyed this podcast and think someone else would, too, please subscribe and share this episode!

Subscribe to our various social media channels

If you want to connect with me or retain Holthe Immigration Law to assist you with immigration to Canada feel free to book a consultation on our official website: www.holthelaw.com

Additionally, consider subscribing to our social media channels to stay up to date with the news on Canadian Immigration:

Canadian Immigration Institute Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvm03Tm2e-ndNkWhiiQUlA

Canadian Immigration Institute Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianImmigrationInstitute

Express Entry Law Private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CanadianImmigrationInstitute

Holthe Immigration Law LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/holthe-business-immigration-law

Holthe Immigration Law Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/holthe.immigration.law/

Holthe Immigration Law Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/HoltheLaw

Episode 084 of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

What this episode is about?

In the midst of COVID 19 pandemic we, Canadian Immigration Lawyers often ask ourselves – what is going on with immigration and how Canada can adapt to the new normal with existing and new potential immigration programs? In light of the ongoing and severe economic crisis Canada really could use some investment and even consider rolling out a new immigration program to get back on track with the recovery from consequences of the pandemic. This would allow our country to bring in new awesome people, give a boost to our economy, create new jobs across Canada.

As a chair of the Canadian Bar Association Immigration Section I have had a great opportunity to discuss immigration with number of organizations, including the Conference Board of Canada, which has been proposing some alternatives to the investor program. So, in this episode I bring on Phil Cohen to discuss what can we do as a country to help encourage more investment in Canada. During this episode we look into investor programs existing in other countries, in particular EB-5 program that exists in United States. This, then leads us to a discussion of how a program, similar to EB-5 would be of benefit to Canada.

EB-5 is an American immigration program that allows both, Americans and foreign nationals to set up companies that can raise money from immigrant investors. In return, investors can qualify for a Green Card (alternative to Canadian Permanent Residence) so long that the business achieves certain requirements, such as:

• The investor has to invest a minimum amount of $900,000 or $1,800,000 USD
• The business must create a minimum of 10 jobs for each investor the business takes on

This program allows to attract significant amount of investments to small and large businesses.  In times of economic uncertainty the program like EB-5, without a doubt, benefits not only the business seeking investment, but also has a great positive impact on economy and the public. Moreover, the cost of the capital typically ends up being much lower when businesses seeks for investments through EB-5 program.

Tune in to learn more details about American EB-5 program and potential benefit Canada would enjoy if we implement similar program in our country.

About today’s guest of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

Phil Cohen is the founder and president of Strategic Element as well as the Editor-in-Chief of The EB-5 Definitive Guide (see: www.starteb5.com for more information). Phil has a long history of developing businesses, business concepts and products, dating back to 1993. With a career that began in the manufacturing sector, and grew to include new developments in technology and a variety of start-ups, Phil has progressively built up experience in the area of new business development with a focus on transforming ideas in to viable business models.

Phil has worked with large public companies as well as small and mid-sized start-ups and businesses.

Beyond the development of business concepts, models and plans, Phil has taken a hands-on role in the launch of several businesses and business initiatives. In so doing he has faced firsthand the realities and challenges faced by new businesses. This firsthand experience has provided him with the insight and real-life exposure necessary to develop businesses and business plans that work.

About the host of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

Mark Holthe is a Canadian Immigration Lawyer based in Lethbridge, Alberta. He has started his legal career with a large national law firm in Calgary where he initiated the business immigration practice at the firm. Since those early days, he has had the opportunity to work in a wide variety of law firm configurations before finally realizing that the best place for him was within the confines of an immigration boutique firm of his own making.

As a Canadian immigration lawyer, Mark has particular experience in assisting clients with all aspects of Canadian immigration law. He assists large national and multinational companies in navigating the complex world of Canadian immigration and provides strategic immigration advice to international and domestic companies seeking to recruit and retain foreign skilled and semi-skilled personnel.

Mark also assists temporary foreign workers with their transition to permanent resident status in Canada and over the past few years, he has taken great satisfaction in helping individuals and families with their various immigration related needs. Mark finds no greater satisfaction than helping to facilitate the reunification of families.

While attending law school, Mark worked as an Immigration officer for Citizenship and Immigration Canada on the Alberta/Montana border. While completing his final year of law school, he worked as a pro bono student to the Canada Border Services Agency Hearings Officers representing the minister before the Immigration Appeal Division in Calgary, Alberta. As a result of his prior experience as an immigration officer, Mark has been able to enhance the services he offers to his cross-border and overseas clients. Since that time, he has continued to work hard fostering positive relationships with the various immigration related government departments and has focused a significant portion of his practice on cross-border matters.

About the Sponsor of the Canadian Immigration Podcast

This episode sponsored by Canadian Immigration Institute, a platform designed to help people navigate Canadian immigration on their own. On this platform, I offer Do-It-Yourself (DIY) video courses guiding you through the process of submitting your immigration application without a need to hire a lawyer. These video courses not only allow people to better understand Canadian immigration but also earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian immigration.

Visit Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com

Listen to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify and iTunes

Canadian Immigration Podcast is being broadcasted on our iTunes and Spotify channels. If you have enjoyed this podcast and think someone else would, too, please subscribe and share this episode!

Subscribe to our various social media channels

If you want to connect with me or retain Holthe Immigration Law to assist you with immigration to Canada feel free to book a consultation on our official website: www.holthelaw.com

Additionally, consider subscribing to our social media channels to stay up to date with the news on Canadian Immigration:

Canadian Immigration Institute Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvm03Tm2e-ndNkWhiiQUlA

Canadian Immigration Institute Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianImmigrationInstitute

Express Entry Law Private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CanadianImmigrationInstitute

Holthe Immigration Law LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/holthe-business-immigration-law

Holthe Immigration Law Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/holthe.immigration.law/

Holthe Immigration Law Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/HoltheLaw

However, what if you never intended to misrepresent your case or did not even know that you have misrepresented something? This is just one of the issues that I have discussed with Rekha McNutt in today’s episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast where we touched on the various aspects of appealing the removal of PRs for misrepresentation.

Rekha practices primarily in immigration law.  She has extensive experience with temporary resident visas, express entry, federal skilled workers, Canadian experience class, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, family class sponsorships, refugee claims, pre-removal risk assessments, and in-Canada humanitarian and compassionate permanent residence applications.

Rekha has focused much of her practice on Federal Court Judicial Review applications of various types of negative immigration-related decisions.

Rekha had appeared before the Alberta Provincial Court and the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.  She has also appeared extensively before the Federal Court of Canada and Immigration Tribunals such as the Immigration Division, Refugee Protection Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division.

Rekha is the past-Chair (2015-2016 & 2016-2017) of the Southern Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Section.

In this episode Rekha and I had an awesome and engaging conversation about misrepresentation and the consequences of such wrongdoings. It is surprising that there are so many ways how almost anyone can become a victim of their own carelessness, lack of understanding of the immigration processes or even reports filed by their close circle of friends or relatives. Rekha gave a full explanation of what misrepresentation really is and how serious and challenging the consequences may get if IRCC believes there was a misrep. Additionally, in this episode we discussed the following:

• what is the misrepresentation;
• examples of Innocent Misrepresentation;
• misrepresentation on inadmissibility vs. misrepresentation on eligibility;
• different ways IRCC finds out about cases of misrep;
• fairness letter and Section 44 reports;
• the process of removal of permanent residents for misrepresentation;
• different ways to fight your case if Immigration Division issues a removal order.

Sponsor:

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

• Additional Resources:

  • Rekha’s firm: http://www.caronpartners.com/
  • How to contact Rekha: RMcNutt@caronpartners.com 
  • Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/

Topics for our Next Podcast

If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line at mholthe@holthelaw.com. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on iTunes and Spotify

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

We also encourage you to subscribe to our Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify.

Rekha practices primarily in immigration law.  She has extensive experience with temporary resident visas, express entry, federal skilled workers, Canadian experience class, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, family class sponsorships, refugee claims, pre-removal risk assessments, and in-Canada humanitarian and compassionate permanent residence applications.

Rekha has focused much of her practice on Federal Court Judicial Review applications of various types of negative immigration-related decisions.

Rekha had appeared before the Alberta Provincial Court and the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.  She has also appeared extensively before the Federal Court of Canada and Immigration Tribunals such as the Immigration Division, Refugee Protection Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division.

Rekha is the past-Chair (2015-2016 & 2016-2017) of the Southern Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Section.

In this episode Rekha and I had a very interesting discussion on challenging removal of PRs from Canada based on criminality. Rekha shared insights and demystified what happens to a PR charged with a criminal offense and how this fact is treated both within criminal as well as immigration system. Additionally, in this episode we discussed the following:

• consequences for a PR when charged with a criminal offense;
• types of criminal charges and difference between serious and regular criminality;
• options for appealing removal order;
• practical aspects of representing a client in appealing removal orders.

Sponsor:

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

• Additional Resources:

  • Rekha’s firm: http://www.caronpartners.com/
  • How to contact Rekha: RMcNutt@caronpartners.com 
  • Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on iTunes and Spotify

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

We also encourage you to subscribe to our Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify.

Rekha practices primarily in immigration law.  She has extensive experience with temporary resident visas, express entry, federal skilled workers, Canadian experience class, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, family class sponsorships, refugee claims, pre-removal risk assessments, and in-Canada humanitarian and compassionate permanent residence applications.

Rekha has focused much of her practice on Federal Court Judicial Review applications of various types of negative immigration-related decisions.

Rekha had appeared before the Alberta Provincial Court and the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.  She has also appeared extensively before the Federal Court of Canada and Immigration Tribunals such as the Immigration Division, Refugee Protection Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division.

Rekha is the past-Chair (2015-2016 & 2016-2017) of the Southern Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Section.

In this episode Rekha and I had a very engaging discussion of all sorts of issues related to challenging Removal Orders and answered some of the most common questions about residency requirement for Canadian Permanent Residents:

• How can you lose your PR status in Canada?
• How much time do you have to stay in Canada to maintain your PR Status?
• Can a Canadian PR be turned away at the border for not meeting the residency requirement?
• How much time you have for appealing your Removal Order?
• Does the process of filing an appeal to IAD differ for in-Canada and outside of Canada appellants?
• Are there any exceptions to the residency requirement?
• What does a hearing at Immigration Appeals Division look like?
• How can you justify your absence in Canada?

Sponsor:

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

• Additional Resources:

  • Rekha’s firm: http://www.caronpartners.com/
  • How to contact Rekha: RMcNutt@caronpartners.com 
  • Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on iTunes and Spotify

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

We also encourage you to subscribe to our Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify.

For US companies relying upon foreign workers, Monday, June 23, 2020, was a day of significant disappointment. President Trump announced that many categories of foreign workers would no longer be granted entry to the US until the end of 2020. Fortunately, Canada’s immigration policy is far more welcoming. If you are a US company that is going to be hurt by these latest rounds of restrictions, Canada may just be the answer. Tune in to this episode where US Immigration Attorney, Nicole Ezer, explains what these restrictions mean for your company and Canadian Immigration Lawyer, Mark Holthe, shares some great “made-in-Canada” solutions to turn your disappointment into relief.

Many US companies were left reeling on Monday, June 23rd when President Trump announced that H-1B, L, J and H-2B visas would be blocked until the end of 2020. These four non-immigrant visa categories are relied upon heavily by US companies seeking to fill critical skill shortages in the US.

Now what is a US company going to do?

They were already hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, but this most recent announcement feels like insult to injury.

In this episode US immigration attorney, Nicole Ezer shares some great insight into what these restrictions really mean for US companies and why things may not be as bad as they seem.  I then take some time to pull the curtain back on some very practical solutions that Canada’s facilitative immigration policy offer to struggling US companies and their foreign workers.

Nicole Ezer is the founder of Ezer Law Group, a business immigration boutique law firm based in Houston, Texas. She is my go-to attorney for any US bound business immigration need. We have collaborated for years on mutual cross-border clients and I have fortunate to call her my friend.

Nicole has practiced in the areas of family-based immigration, naturalization and asylum and participated in activities that provide education to industries and communities regarding immigration issues.

She is a frequent speaker before industry, HR groups and for attorney CLE activities, and is a 2002 Graduate of the Center for Houston’s Future Leadership Forum. Nicole has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center, teaching “Business Immigration Basics”.

Nicole has focused her practice on immigration policies and planning and consulting for companies of all sizes. She is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Nicole develops, implements and updates immigration policies for multinational corporations.

Sponsor:

None of this would be possible if it were not for my Canadian Immigration Institute. My DIY courses earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian Immigration.

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Canada is a great option for suffering US companies?”]

• Additional Resources:

  • Nicole Ezer’s law firm: https://ezerlawgroup.com/
  • The best way to reach Nicole:
    • Phone: (281) 404-7781
    • Website: https://ezerlawgroup.com/contacts/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on iTunes and Spotify

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

We also encourage you to subscribe to our Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify.

Are you frustrated with your language scores? Have you considered writing both language tests? If you want to improve your scores, you have to listen to this episode with professional language instructor Garret Lim. He shares the real goods on what makes the IELTS different than the CELPIP. You can decide which one is better.

In this episode, Garret Lim shared some great insight into exactly what the CELPIP and IELTS tests cover. By knowing the differences between the two tests, you can make the right choice as to which is going to allow you to score the highest. After all, your entire future in Canada depends upon it.

Garret Lim is a career ESL teacher that has spent over 13 years teaching English as a second language. He has taught in 3 countries and has had students from over 30 different countries. Recently, he’s narrowed his focus a bit and is now specializing in test preparation for people wanting to immigrate to Canada who need to reach a certain proficiency band on one of the tests.

1. Why English is so important with respect to your Express Entry
2. What the CLB is and what it represents
3. How the CLB is measured.
4. Differences between the CELPIP and the IELTS
5. Final advice or tips for those taking the tests

Sponsor:

None of this would be possible if it were not for my Canadian Immigration Institute. My DIY courses earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian Immigration.

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Is the IELTS really better than the CELPIP?”]

• Additional Resources:

  • Garret’s website: http://tu-easy.online 

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast on iTunes and Spotify

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

We also encourage you to subscribe to our Canadian Immigration Podcast on Spotify.

Anyone dealing with a Canadian Border Services Officer understands right away that they carry considerable power and authority over who is granted entry to Canada and who is not. In this episode Canadian Immigration Lawyer, Arghavan Gerami joins me to discuss some challenges that currently exist within the Canada Border Services Agency and attempt to offer some solutions on how things can improve.

In this episode we will pull back the curtain on the inner workings of the CBSA. We discuss whether the approaches taken by the CBSA during COVID-19 are consistent with the principles of Open Government heralded by the Liberal government in their election platforms.  We also discussed the lack of transparency demonstrated bt the CBSA and whether the approach they take is consistent with the rule of law, a foundational pillar of our society.

There has been a significant lack of responsiveness by the CBSA to any attempts at dialogue in understanding the rationale for their decisions in turning people away at the border during COVID-19. Understanding the legal basis for these decisions formulates a critical component in the advice we provide to our clients as immigration lawyers. Lately, we have been left with far more questions than we have answers.

In a pandemic, people need even more transparency and clarity when it comes to the implementation of new policies and procedures. This lack of transparency can be seen most acutely in how the CBSA has been interpreting what is considered to be a “non-essential” purpose in the context of Canada’s travel restrictions. This episode was created in an attempt to encourage greater transparency with the CBSA. We hope you like it.

Arghavan Gerami Bio:

Arghavan Gerami is the Founder and Senior Counsel at Gerami Law Professional Corporation (‘PC’), a full-service immigration law firm in Ottawa, Ontario.  She completed her Juris Doctor and Master of Laws at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2007.

Ms. Gerami worked at the Ministry of Attorney General and the Department of Justice before transitioning to private practice in 2011. She also had the privilege of serving the Honourable Mr. Justice M. Evans at the Federal Court of Appeal.

Since founding Gerami Law PC in 2011 Ms. Gerami has focused her practice on immigration and refugee litigation and represented numerous clients before the Federal and provincial Courts, as well as the various divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Ms. Gerami is an Executive Member on the Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association.  In 2017 and 2018 Ms. Gerami also served on the Organizing Committee of the annual CBA Immigration Law Conference.  She has been interviewed on national and local television and quoted in national and local newspapers such as The Globe and Mail, National Post and the Ottawa Citizen.  Ms. Gerami has also published numerous journal articles, presented at immigration and refugee law conferences and events across Canada, and provided guest lectures at the University of Ottawa.

As a Supervising Principal to articling students, Ms. Gerami enjoys facilitating the career development of law students and young lawyers. She also enjoys traveling as well as spending time with her two children, husband and Bambi (her dog).

Sponsor:

None of this would be possible if it were not for my Canadian Immigration Institute. My DIY courses earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian Immigration.

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Is the CBSA above the Law?”]

• Additional Resources:

  • Arghavan’s law firm: https://www.geramilaw.com/
  • Arghavan’s contact info: https://www.geramilaw.com/contact.html

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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This is the second part of a two-part series on the Canadian Business Immigration process. In this episode, immigration lawyer, Jeffrey Lowe, and I dive into the different types of investment strategies available to foreign nationals seeking to acquire permanent resident status in Canada. We take some time to pull back the curtain on the most common investment vehicles available to potential business immigration clients as they seek to realize their dream of securing PR status for them and their families.

Listen to our Canadian Immigration Podcast episode #077:

During this episode, you will learn about four common ways foreign nationals can invest in Canada. Jeffrey discusses the pros and cons of each of these pathways, and how to find business opportunities when investing in Canada.

What makes this episode so awesome is the case studies and analysis of different immigration scenarios available to business investors. In addition, this episode is chock-full of practical tips designed to help Canadian immigration lawyers and their high net worth clients navigate the complexities of the business immigration process.

If you would like to learn more about my guest, have a listen to Episode 19 of the Canadian Immigration Podcast where we discussed Jeffrey’s background and how he got into immigration.

Jeffrey Lowe has practiced Immigration and Business law in British Columbia since 1983. He holds both a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and is considered an innovator in the convergence of Business, Technology, and the Law. Jeffrey is the Chief Inspirational Officer of Lowe & Company and has taught Immigration Law, Practice Management and Legal Ethics to lawyers across Canada since 1990.

Sponsor:

None of this would be possible if it were not for my Canadian Immigration Institute. My DIY courses earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian Immigration.

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Business Immigration programs are alive and well in Canada.”]

• Additional Resources:

  • Jeffrey’s firm: https://www.canadavisalaw.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line at mholthe@holthelaw.com. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn

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Since 2014 Canada has been without any real immigrant investor program at a federal level. However, in this episode we are going to pull the curtain back on three great options that your business immigration clients may want to consider as they look to invest in Canada and use that investment of time and money to secure permanent resident status for them and their families.

It was great to have Canadian Immigration Lawyer Jeffrey Lowe join me to shed some light on some of the best business immigration options available for entrepreneurs and like-minded foreign nationals who are looking to invest in Canada and secure permanent resident status in the process. You can learn more about Jeffrey and his background working as a Canadian immigration lawyer in Episode 19 of the Canadian Immigration Podcast.

Jeffrey S. Lowe has practised Immigration and Business law in British Columbia since 1983. He holds both a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia, and is considered an innovator in the convergence of Business, Technology and the Law. Jeffrey is the Chief Inspirational Officer of Lowe & Company, and has taught Immigration Law, Practice Management and Legal Ethics to lawyers across Canada since 1990.

In this episode Jeffrey and I discussed three of his favourite option when advising high net worth clients seeking to immigrate to Canada. Two of the programs are PNP based and the third is a home grown strategy involving a combination of creative work permits and existing skilled worker programs to secure PR status in Canada.

 Show Notes for This Episode:

1. Introduction to Business Immigration
2. 2 general routes:
   • Entrepreneur Provincial Nominee Programs
     • 7 Provinces and 2 Territories have them
     • Most work the same way;
     • And
   • The “Canadian Business Experience Strategy” (a new term coined by Jeffrey!)
     • Buy or invest in a business
     • Apply for a Work Permit through a number of options:
       • Owner Operator LMIA
       • NAFTA Investor;
       • CETA or CPTPP Investor;
       • Significant Benefit Work Permit;
     • Work in Canada;
     • Apply to Immigrate under Express Entry
3. Closer look at 2 Entrepreneur PNP Programs we recommend:
   • BC PNP Programs:
     • Base Program:
       • $600K PNW
       • $200K minimum investment
       • Create 1 job
       • Can buy a business or start newNeed to spend 75% of your time in BC
       • Need CLB 4 when applying for Nomination (after 2 years)
     • Regional Pilot:
       • $300K PNW;
       • $100K Minimum Investment
       • Create 1 Job
       • Must start new business
       • Need to spend 75% of your time in BC
       • Need CLB 4 at the beginning
       • 66 Communities, with <1,000 people to 75K people
       • Must have Community support for your proposed business
   • Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program
     • Investment in GTA:
       • $800K PNW
       • $600K minimum investment
       • Create 2 jobs
       • Need to spend 75% of your time in Ontario
       • Need CLB 4 when you apply for nomination
     • Investment in Tech sector or outside GTA:
       • $400K PNW
       • $200K minimum investment
       • Create 1 job
       • Need to spend 75% of your time in Ontario
       • Need CLB 4 when you apply for nomination

Sponsor:

None of this would be possible if it were not for my Canadian Immigration Institute. My DIY courses earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian Immigration.

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Business Immigration programs are alive and well in Canada.”]

• Additional Resources:

  • Jeffrey’s firm: https://www.canadavisalaw.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

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If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

With over 700,000 international students in Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has been struggling with what to do with them all. Many of these students are wondering if they have a future in Canada over the long term. In this episode Canadian Immigration Lawyer Will Tao joins me talk about some of the challenges students experience when studying in Canada and some essential tips to avoiding the most common pitfalls.

[NOTE: The COVID-19 pandemic has had temporary affects on international students in Canada including study permit processing and the ability of some students to travel to Canada to attend school. Many schools are currently offering online programming. IRCC has instituted temporary measures to allow students to attend class overseas and obtain up to 50% credit for PGWPs while studying outside Canada. Students in Canada are currently authorized to study online while their programs and schools are holding online classes. Students who have been admitted to programs that are currently closed due to COVID-19 are able to remain in Canada and work off-campus in accordance with the regular off campus employment regulations. Full-time work is only authorized during “regular” scheduled breaks except for those students working in occupations deemed essential services:  – last updated May 7, 2020]

I was super happy to have Will Tao join me again after an almost four year absence on my Podcast. The last time he joined me, he was just cutting his teeth in the world of immigration law. [Listen to Will talk about his journey to becoming an immigration lawyer in Episode 26] However, he has worked hard to establish himself as a thought leader in our industry and someone who truly practices immigration law the right way.

Will Tao (pronouns: he/him) is a Canadian Immigration and Refugee Lawyer at Edelmann and Co., who lives and works on the traditional, unceded territories of the Coast Salish – sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) nations.

Will provides legal services in all areas of Canadian immigration and refugee law with a focus on complex applications, overcoming refusals, inadmissibility matters, appeals, and judicial reviews. Will regularly appeals before the Immigration and Refugee Board and the Federal Court of Canada. His focus is on international students, families, and temporary foreign workers.

Will also provides strategic advice and consultation to government, media, educational institutions, and businesses on immigration/refugee, decolonization, and race equity related issues. He is the founder and creator of Vancouver Immigration Blog, where he hopes to make immigration and refugee law more accessible to the general public. He is a second-generation Canadian, product of immigrants, and finds his personal motivation in the sacrifices of his parents and the resilience of Indigenous ancestors to this land.

In this episode Will and I discussed the plight of international students in Canada and pulled back the curtain on what is really happening in the background of immigration processing. Will took some time to share his thoughts on the challenges international students face in Canada and offered a few solutions to some of the most common pitfalls.

Sponsor:

None of this would be possible if it were not for my Canadian Immigration Institute. My DIY courses earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian Immigration.

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Windmill Microlending…an amazing company.”]

• Additional Resources:

  • Will Tao’s firm: https://edelmann.ca/
  • Will’s Blog: http://vancouverimmigrationblog.com

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Have you ever wondered why the Canadian Immigration process can be so darn hard and unforgiving? In this episode I share a few of my own thoughts on Canadian Immigration from the many years I have spent working in the trenches.

This episode came about quite spontaneously. As I was walking through the Cottonwood trees in our community wilderness park along the banks of the Old Man River near Lethbridge, I started think about my immigration practice and how much it had changed since I first decided to focus exclusively on immigration law back in 2003.

To say that things have changed is an understatement. When I started practicing, I had just finished working on the border as an officer and completed a year of pro bono work with the hearings officers in Calgary, Alberta. I had tons of great relationships established within the various immigration departments and was well positioned to start my practice as an immigration lawyer.

However, over time the landscape shifted and with that so too went officer discretion. In this Episode, I shared some insight on why these changes have occurred and the impact it has had on my practice and how I serve my clients.

I also shared a little bit about my new law firm Holthe Immigration Law, why I created it and how it is the perfect solution for how I want to practice for the rest of my career. I’ve got big plans for my little law firm. If you or someone you know is looking for an opportunity to work with a great group of lawyers looking to change the world please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Sponsor:

None of this would be possible if it were not for my Canadian Immigration Institute. My DIY courses earn me sufficient revenue to continue pushing out great free content on Canadian Immigration.

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Windmill Microlending…an amazing company.”]

• Additional Resources:

  • Mark’s new firm: https://www.holthelaw.com
  • Click here to book a consult: https://www.holthelaw.com/consultation/
  • Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Getting your immigration application refused sucks! Fortunately, you don’t simply have to accept the rejection and live with it. In this episode Rekha McNutt joins me in our first episode of our Special Series on Immigration Hearings and Appeals to pull back the curtain on Sponsorship Appeals at the Immigration Appeal Division.

Rekha practices primarily in immigration law.  She has extensive experience with temporary resident visas, express entry, federal skilled workers, Canadian experience class, Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program, family class sponsorships, refugee claims, pre-removal risk assessments, and in-Canada humanitarian and compassionate permanent residence applications.

Rekha has focused much of her practice on Federal Court Judicial Review applications of various types of negative immigration-related decisions.

Rekha had appeared before the Alberta Provincial Court and the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.  She has also appeared extensively before the Federal Court of Canada and Immigration Tribunals such as the Immigration Division, Refugee Protection Division, and the Immigration Appeal Division.

Rekha is the past-Chair (2015-2016 & 2016-2017) of the Southern Alberta Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, Immigration Section.

In this episode Rekha and I covered the following areas:

• what to do first when the rejection letter comes;
• step by step process flow of a sponsorship appeal;
• practical examples of how spousal and parental sponsorships can go wrong;
• pros and cons of the ADR process;
• how to work with interpreters;
• choosing you witnesses;
• top tips and strategies for running a successful appeal; and
• a host of other amazing insight from a seasoned litigator.

Sponsor:

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Windmill Microlending…an amazing company.”]

• Additional Resources:

  • Rekha’s firm: http://www.caronpartners.com/
  • How to contact Rekha: RMcNutt@caronpartners.com 
  • Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

One of the saddest things to see is for skilled immigrants and refugees to sacrifice so much to come to Canada and then not have the ability to continue working in their chosen profession once they get here. One of the more common barriers is the cost of applying for certification.

Often newcomers are unable to afford the application fees upon arrival and end up working in lower paying positions which only leave them with enough income to survive…never being able to afford the application fees. So what’s the solution? …..Windmill Microlending. Listen in to my interview with Onai Abote who shares the remarkable Windmill story and how it has helped countless immigrants realize their dream of working in their chosen profession in Canada.

Onai Petra Abote, is the Community Relationship Specialist with Windmill Microlending (formerly Immigrant Access Fund) in Calgary. Onai joined Windmill Microlending from Postmedia, publishers of the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun where she was part of the advertising management team working as Media Coordinator and also featured as a columnist for both brands. Her achievements include developing clear internal communications for her department, successfully organizing high profile events, ensuring deadlines were met and maintaining relationships with various stakeholders. She also served as a committee member on the Calgary Herald Christmas Fund Committee – a fund that awards grants to some of the cities agencies working with vulnerable groups.

Onai is a qualified journalist with over 10 years’ experience working as a journalist in Zimbabwe – where she was born and raised. She worked as a freelance television producer for Reuters, and then later as Project Coordinator (and journalist) for The Source – Zimbabwe’s first business and financial news agency launched and supported by Thomson Reuters Foundation and European Journalism Centre.

As the Windmill Microlending Community Relationship Specialist in the Calgary office, Onai’s focus includes executing Windmill Microlending ongoing strategic outreach plan – deepening the organization’s extensive referral network of immigrant-serving organizations, learning institutions, regulatory bodies, professional associations and ethno- and occupation-specific groups. While the primary geographic focus is Calgary and Edmonton, she has also represented Windmill Microlending across British Columbia, and built referral networks across Canada in collaboration with counterparts in other provinces.

In this episode Onai and I covered the following areas:

• who is Windmill Microlending;
• what they do;
• why they do it; and
• how they do it.

Sponsor:

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Windmill Microlending…an amazing company.”]

• Additional Resources:

  • Windmill Microlending: https://windmillmicrolending.org/
  • How to apply: https://windmillmicrolending.org/applicants/eligibility/
  • Canadian Immigration Institute: https://canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Whether you are a seasoned immigration practitioner or new to the caregiver world, a caregiver yourself looking to immigrate to Canada or someone currently working in Canada as a caregiver and wanting to become a permanent resident, this episode is for you. Quebec based immigration lawyer, Matthew Aronson joined me in this amazing episode filled with do’s and dont’s, tips and strategies and a virtual walkthrough of the new Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker Pilot programs. I think this episode ranks up there as one of the top “hands-on” episodes I have ever produced with an immigration lawyer to date.

Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada has once again revamped the caregiver programs in this country. Whether or not the new Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker Pilot programs will succeed in accomplishing what they were designed to do, or doomed to fail, will play out in the coming years. Regardless, if you are considering accessing one of these programs, this episode is an absolute must.

Immigration lawyer Matt Aronson spent some time with me deconstructing the new pilot programs and offering a ton of extremely helpful information to help you navigate the complexities of not only the new pilots, but what to do with the existing caregiver currently working in Canada.

A graduate of McGill Law, Me. Matthew E. Aronson is a member of both the Barreau du Quebec and of the Law Society of Ontario.

Me. Aronson practices immigration, corporate commercial and real estate law. In immigration, he does all types of visitor, study and work permits, as well as Permanent Residency applications for Skilled Workers and for spouses of Canadians. He has developed a particular specialty in obtaining work permits and permanent residency for in-home caregivers.

He began his career at one of Canada’s premier corporate commercial law firms and has since gained experience in a boutique litigation firm and a well-known immigration firm before moving in-house at an international private equity firm as an Asset Manager and Advisor on Real Estate matters for several years. He returned to private practice in 2015, and jointed Adessky Attorneys as the head of its immigration practice. Since that time, he has advised both employers and workers in matters pertaining to work permits and PR cases.

When not practicing law, Me. Aronson is active in his community as a volunteer, serving on the Board of Notre-Dame-des-Arts, an arts-oriented local charity, as well as being VP Legal for his own family business, MKRLAB Community Workshop.

In this episode we covered the following areas:

1. Who are caregivers? What do you need to qualify?
2. New Caregiver pilot programs – what has changed, how the pilot programs can benefit workers, as well as some common pitfalls to avoid
3. The ‘Quebec Acceptation’ – how caregivers can work in Quebec, and what it means for PR.
4. Legacy programs – how to continue accessing the old (and new) PR pathways if you’re already a Caregiver in Canada.
5. Tips and tricks to streamline an application and avoid common errors and delays.

Sponsor:

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Everything you wanted to know about caregiver programs in Canada“]

Additional Resources:

• Matt Aronson Bio: https://www.adessky.com/about/matthew-e-aronson/
• How to Contact Matt: matt@adessky.com
• Matt’s Firm Website: https://www.adessky.com/
• Canadian Immigration Institute: https://canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

One of the most heartbreaking realities of practicing Canadian immigration law is the fact that not all applications submitted will get approved.There is nothing worse than having to inform a client that their application was rejected. Inevitably, the first question a client asks after being told about the refusal, is how can we appeal that refusal.

Well, in this special series I will be releasing over the next couple of months, my good friend and colleague Rekha McNutt will join me to explore all of the ins and outs of the Canadian immigration appeal process and what happens in these hearings. Whether you are an immigration lawyer, consultant, or recently rejected applicant, this series is for you.

This special series on immigration appeals came about when Rekha and I realized that it was really difficult to try to limit the scope of this topic to just one episode. As we discussed the possible areas of immigration appeal, it became readily apparent that a special series on immigration appeals would be far more useful to the immigration practitioner and their clients than a high level discussion at the 10,000 foot level.

After all, this Podcast was designed to be very practical in nature and filled with numerous take aways that we and our clients could use in navigating our way through this complex area of immigration law, policy, and practice. I’ll leave the 10,000 foot level for my good friends, Peter, Steven, and Deanna over at the Borderlines Podcast….which is one I highly recommend you check out.

So after discussing the possible ways in which we could structure this series, we settled on breaking things down by division first and then type of appeal within each division. Here are the general topics you can expect in the coming weeks and months:

1. Immigration Division – detention reviews and admissibility
2. Immigration Appeal Division – spousal and parental sponsorship, removal order appeals
3. Refugee Protection Division – refugee claims
4. Refugee Appeal Division – refugee appeals
5. Special Episode – s.117(9)(d) refusals

I think you are going to absolutely love this series whether you are a new practicing lawyer, a seasoned practitioner, or an everyday applicant staring at a refusal letter and wondering where to turn now.

Sponsor:

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases via your affiliate link

[Tweet “Everything you wanted to know about immigration appeals“]

Additional Resources:

• Rekha McNutt Bio: http://www.caronpartners.com/rekha-p-mcnutt
• Rekha’s Firm Website: http://www.caronpartners.com/
• Canadian Immigration Institute: https://canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Another federal election has come and gone and after the dust has settled, Canada will have a minority Liberal government. The question is…..how will this impact Canadian immigration law, policy and practice?

In this episode I invited my good friend and fellow immigration lawyer, Ravi Jain to join me to weigh in on where we think immigration policy is headed following this fall Federal election. Now that we now we will have a minority Liberal government for the next 4 years (or less), what impact will this really have on the future of Canadian immigration for us immigration lawyers, consultants and our clients?

Although Ravi and I are both serving as table officers with the National Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, all of the view expressed in this episode are ours alone and do not reflect those of the Canadian Bar Association and the National Immigration law section. This episode is just two friends sharing our thoughts on what we feel may be in store for Canadian immigration in the coming years.

Here is what we covered:

1. Parents and Grandparents
2. Refugees
3. MPs in and out
4. Economic Immigration Programs
5. Temporary Foreign Worker Program
6. Immigration Consultants

Sponsor:

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe 

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases your affiliate link

[Tweet “Canadian Immigration – Post Election 2019“]

Additional Resources:

• Ravi Jain Bio: https://www.gands.com/team/bio/ravi-jain
• Ravi’s Firm Website: https://www.gands.com/home
• Canadian Immigration Institute: https://canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/

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Express Entry is one of the most volatile, scary, and stressful applications that can be submitted to Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada. In this episode I share with you some of my best insights and tips on navigating the Express Entry process safely.

In the first few years of Express Entry, when I received an email from IRCC related to a file starting with the letter “E”, my stomach started to churn and my stress levels started to rise. I hesitated going to my Rep Portal to check to see what this notification could mean. Was it just a simple request for Passports, or was it the dreaded refusal letter for having failed to upload some innocuous document?

Although I don’t feel that way now, I know that many of you fellow practitioners likely do….or if you don’t, it’s likely because you haven’t yet filed many Express Entry applications.  So in order to help reduce the stress level and increase the satisfaction level, I pull back the curtain and share some insight on the whole process and some tips for avoiding some of the more troubling areas.

Here is what I covered:

1. Quick Overview of Express Entry
2. CRS Trends and the Rounds of Invitations
3. How our Clients can Increase Their CRS Scores
4. Things you must know about Express Entry
5. Break for our Sponsor – CII
6. My Essential Practice Tips
7. Top 5 Crazy Reasons EE Applications were Refused
8. Top 5 Most Common Reasons for Refusal

Click on this link to access the Slide Deck Mark talked about in this Episode: AQAADI – Express Entry – Holthe 2019

Sponsor:

• Canadian Immigration Institute – Founded by Immigration Lawyer Mark Holthe
• Special Offer to listeners announced in the podcast today – Express Entry – Complete Step by Step Guide to Doing it Yourself:
  • COUPON CODE: CIPEE50 – 50% Off Lifetime Access to the Course ($248.50)
  • Click on this link to access this offer: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/offers/nxZdxo2d?coupon_code=CIPEE50
  • OFFER EXPIRES – NOVEMBER 12, 2019  

Affiliate Program:

• Click on this link to become an affiliate of the Canadian Immigration Institute: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/become-an-affiliate
  • OR,  go to the Canadian Immigration Institute main page and scroll down to the very bottom and click on “Affiliate”.
  • Earn 30% when someone purchases your affiliate link

[Tweet “How to remove the stress from the Express Entry process“]

Additional Resources:

• Book a Consultation with Mark: https://stringam.ca/immigration-mark-holthe/
• Mark’s Firm Website:  https://stringam.ca/
• Canadian Immigration Institute: https://canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/
• Mark’s LMIA DIY Guide: https://www.canadianimmigrationinstitute.com/lmia-guide-for-high-wage-positions

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People preparing to immigrate to Canada often have one or more of the following misconceptions about the Canadian healthcare system: “Medicare works the same across the country,” or  “Coverage is immediate upon arrival,” or “Emergency medical care is covered even if I have a waiting period”. In this episode Jason Cummings joins me to debunk these common misconceptions and set the record straight for all newcomers to Canada.

These misconceptions can be costly to a newcomer.  For instance, each year tens of thousands of new residents of Canada settle in a Province or Territory that has a waiting period for public health coverage (Medicare).  During a Medicare waiting period, “un-insured residents” are responsible to pay for hospital and medical services, even in an emergency, and costs can be very high, even catastrophic.  The same risk can arise when a temporary resident loses Medicare eligibility due to the expiry of a work or study permit.

In this episode Canadian health insurance broker Jason Cummings, General Manager of David Cummings Insurance Services Ltd, joined me to help shed some light on what new permanent residents and temporary residents face when on-boarding into the “Canadian health system” and to offer some consumer education insights about the types of private medical insurance used to cover Medicare gaps.

Jason Cummings – General Manager of David Cummings Insurance Services Ltd. (DCIS).

Jason Cummings comes to work motivated to make a positive difference in people’s lives. With over 20 years’ experience, Jason is a recognized expert in health and travel insurance who has been interviewed for CBC’s The National, CBC News Vancouver, and CBC Radio and he presents information about Canada’s healthcare system and private health insurance in live workshops and online.  Jason leads the DCIS team of agents and associates with the vision of relentlessly championing duty of care, good faith, and the dignity of each person.

About DCIS Insurance Services Founded in 1987 by Jason’s father David Cummings, DCIS is a boutique insurance brokerage of choice, specializing in health insurance solutions for people moving to or visiting Canada, and for people relocating or travelling outside their country of origin to other destinations worldwide. Through a network of trusted advisors DCIS also provides personal life insurance, disability insurance, and group benefits. The DCIS team are committed to ensuring individuals, families, and organizations are well advised, offered competitive insurance solutions, equipped for successful use of their insurance, and supported at time of claim.

In this episode Jason shared valuable insights for prospective immigrants and temporary residents about on-boarding into the Canadian health system:

1. Public health coverage does not operate the same across Canada. Before departing for Canada, learn how Medicare eligibility and enrolment works in the Province or Territory you will settle in.
2. New Permanent Residents face a Medicare waiting period (approx.3 months) in three Provinces and all Territories. Be sure to buy interim (private) medical insurance for any Medicare waiting period or gap.
3. Work permit holders (and study permit holders) face a more complex set of rules and variables in regard to Medicare eligibility and maintaining Medicare coverage.
4. Not all interim medical plans are created equally. Give the purchase of medical insurance the consideration due to any important financial decision. Whether on your own, or with the help of an insurance broker, be informed about the types of plan available, and especially about the plan you choose to buy.

[Tweet “Demystifying the refugee issue once and for all“]

Additional Resources:

• How to Contact Jason Cummings:  jason@david-cummings.com
• Firm Website (David Cummings Insurance Services Ltd.): http://www.david-cummings.com
• Health Insurance Matters – Essential information for prospective immigrants and temporary residents

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With the increasing numbers of refugee claimants crossing into Canada via the US border, the topic of refugees has become extremely polarizing in our country. As we approach another election year, political divisiveness and rhetoric from all parties will continue to dominate the media. What we are left with is a lot of misinformation being spread that only exacerbates the confusion the average Canadian has regarding the refugee issue.

In this episode Canadian immigration lawyer Hart Kaminker joined me to help shed some light on this topic and provide some great insight from a refugee lawyer perspective. Tune in to this episode and get rid of your pre-conceived ideas about refugees once and for all.

Hart Kaminker has extensive experience in all facets of Immigration and Citizenship law with focused knowledge in litigation, the processing of permanent and temporary applications, and reviewing decisions of Immigration tribunals and international visa officers.

Hart has represented clients before the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and all levels of the Immigration and Refugee Board including the Refugee Protection Division, the Refugee Appeal Division and the Immigration Appeal Division.

Hart is often called upon to speak at events for the Canadian Bar Association and other community organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. He has also served on the Board of Governors at Beth Tikvah Synagogue and the UJA Israel Engagement Committee.

In this episode Hart shared insight on the following topics related to Canadian refugee law:

1. Current influx of refugees from the United States
2. Safe Third Country Agreement
3. Scheduling problems at the RPD
4. Life working as a refugee lawyer

[Tweet “Demystifying the refugee issue once and for all“]

Additional Resources:

• How to Contact Hart Kaminker: hkaminker@kaminkerlaw.com
• Firm Website (Kaminker and Associates): https://www.kaminkerlaw.com/
• IRB Statistics on irregular border crossers: https://irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/statistics/Pages/Irregular-border-crosser-statistics.aspx

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Quebec has gone through some fairly significant changes to it’s immigration programs. If you want to know how these changes may impact on Quebec based work permits and immigration, you’ve come to the right place. Canadian Immigration Lawyer Genna Evelyn joined me to share some insight on some of the significant changes that have been launched and some fantastic employment opportunities that exist for foreign nationals destined for Quebec.

Genna Evelyn practices immigration law from the small border city of Saint-Georges de Beauce in Quebec. Originally from Ontario, she has practiced in numerous areas of law in both Ontario and New Brunswick since 2007 before joining the BB Immigration team in 2017.

Ms. Evelyn has a Bachelor’s of Law from the University of New Brunswick and a Masters of Law from Université Laval with a research focus on immigration law. She offers services in both her English and French and is a member of both the Barreau du Québec and the Law Society of Ontario.

In addition to practicing immigration law privately, Ms. Evelyn also runs an Immigration Legal Clinic in Saint-Georges which provides free consultations to immigrants and others living in the region looking for help with their immigration procedures.

In this episode Genna shared insight on the following Quebec immigration programs:

1. Quebec Foreign Worker Program
2. Quebec Skilled Worker Program
3. Quebec Experience Program
4. Entrepreneur / Investor Program

In this Episode, Genna also shared some great news that her region in Quebec is seriously hurting for workers. If you or someone you know is interested in a job opportunity in Quebec check out this website: https://www.labeauceembauche.com/

In this episode Genna shared some of the advantages that exist for spouse’s of foreign workers who wish to become the principal application in a PR application. I had asked her to confirm whether spouse’s of refugees (on Canadian open work permits) would be eligible for some of these programs. However, Genna later confirmed with me that it wouldn’t be possible for the spouse of a refugee applicant to use these new avenues because they only apply to open work permit holders under s. 205(c)(ii) which would only include spouses of foreign workers and students.

[Tweet “What’s new with Quebec Immigration“]

Additional Resources:

• How to Contact Genna Evelyn: gevelyn@bbimmigration.com
• Website: http://www.bbimmigration.ca/en/our-team/

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With the legalization of marijuana in Canada on October 17, 2018, there continues to exist tremendous confusion on how this will impact Canadian marijuana users travelling to the US and American’s coming to Canada for a little “marijuana tourism“. The issue is complex for individuals, but down right maddening for multinational companies sending employees back and forth across the Canada/US border on a daily basis.

In this episode, I was joined by Canadian and US Immigration Attorney Henry Chang who shared some great advice on the real dangers that exist for users of marijuana seeking to travel cross border between Canada and the US and some great tips for employees of Canadian marijuana companies travelling to the US.

Henry Chang, a partner with the law firm of Blaney McMurtry in Toronto, Ontario, has always been a great resource for anything related to cross border immigration. As an immigration lawyer/attorney licensed to practice immigration law on both sides of the border, he was the perfect choice to join me on this Episode to explore the hidden dangers and pitfalls that the legalization of pot in Canada has created for Canadians and Americans crossing the Canada/US border.

Henry is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the State Bar of California. He is consistently ranked as one of Canada’s top lawyers by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Who’s Who Legal, and Best Lawyers. He also holds an AV (Preeminent) rating, the highest possible rating, from Martindale-Hubbell.

Henry is the chair of the firm’s Immigration Law Group. As a recognized authority in the field of United States and Canadian business immigration law, his style of legal representation is often referred to as the “gold standard” for cross-border mobility law. With limited exceptions, Henry personally supervises the preparation of such cases, in order to ensure the highest probability of a successful outcome.

Henry lectures extensively in Canada, the United States, and overseas. His work has been published in numerous nationally- and internationally- recognized publications, including LexisNexis’ Immigration Law & Procedure, which has been cited in over 300 Federal Court decisions in cases from across the U.S. circuit courts of appeals, federal district courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Two of Henry’s more recent articles have propelled him forward as one of the go-to lawyers on this topic and landed him many interviews with media seeking to demystify some of the lesser known dangers that are lurking in the shadows for marijuana users crossing the border.

How the Legalization of Marijuana Will Affect Your Ability to Travel to the United States

Canadian Companies Should Educate Their Employees Prior to Marijuana Legalization

In this episode Henry and I covered the following topics:

1. Canadians travelling to the US after legalization
2. Employees of Canadian companies travelling to the US
3. Americans coming to Canada for “marijuana tourism”
4. Bringing marijuana across the border (into Canada or the US)

[Tweet “What you must know about Pot and cross border travel“]

Additional Resources:

• How to Contact Henry Chang: https://www.blaney.com/contact-us
• Website: https://www.blaney.com/

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For the past 15 years, I have routinely requested that my business immigration clients provide business plans to support the various business class applications I seek on their behalf in Canada. I never gave a thought to recommending the services of a business plan writing company….that is until I learned how great an impact they can have on the approval of a business immigration application.

In this episode, I was joined by Marianella Manzur, Vice President at Joorney Business Plans who shared some great insight and opened my eyes to how outsourcing this essential component of a business immigration application can make all the difference in its success or failure.

Normally, I don’t invite 3rd party vendors to join me on my Podcast. I tend to invite other practitioners to talk about the nuts and bolts of various Canadian immigration applications. However, as I have been doing more and more business immigration application as the Canadian economy continues to rebound, the need for solid business plans has become increasingly important.

Traditionally, I have left the development of these business plans to my clients. However, I have come to realize that not all business plans are created equal. In fact, a company can put together a fantastic business plan that is extremely persuasive for securing much needed financing, but completely useless for the purposes of securing a business visa.

As a business immigration lawyer, it is essential that I am doing everything in my ability to give my client the best chance of success. As I have become increasingly aware of the significant impact a well written business plan can have on the success or failure of my client’s application, I would be borderline negligent not to introduce my clients to the possibility of outsourcing the business plan development to professionals.

Over the years I have danced around companies like Joorney Business Plans. However, it was not until recently that I truly discovered the broad scope of services they can offer to my clients… and that the costs of these services are entirely reasonable in the context of business immigration applications. In fact, they offer so much more than drafting a simple business plan.

Joorney Business Plans

Joorney is one of the leading Business Plan writing companies in the industry. They specialize in providing custom business plan writing services and market analysis. Since 2012, they have completed over 2,500 projects with expertise in 120+ industries, and they can handle communications in many different languages. They have successfully established 500 B2B partners throughout the USA and continue to grow in Canada.

With their breadth of experience across many different industries, Joorney is ideally situated to support our client’s in a variety of different areas including: consulting projects, strategic plans, investor approaches, market analysis and much more. The team at Joorney is flexible enough to adapts to the unique needs of our clients while provided extremely responsive service at competitive rates.

Joorney’s main focus is business plans for immigration. They specialize in business plans for Provincial Nominee Programs, Intra-company Transfers, Self Employed, and LMIAs. They hand all aspects of business plan development. They also provide market research for clients wanting to enter the Canadian market.

Joorney is offering a 10% discount to everyone who let’s them know they heard about them right here on the Canadian Immigration Podcast

After listening to what Marianella Manzur had to say about her company today, I can honestly say that they will become one of my go to companies for the development of business plans…..

…..tune in to this episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast and you will understand why outsourcing the development of business plans to experts within the immigration field may be the best decision your client ever made.

In this episode we covered the following topics:

1. Introduction of Joorney – Marianella Manzur and Joorney Business Plans
2. Main Focus of Joorney:
   • Business Plans
   • Market Research
   • Feasibility Analysis
   • Financial Models
   • Idea Selection Process
3. Client Process Flow
4. Competitive Advantage

[Tweet “Why outsourcing business plan creation for immigration makes sense“]

Additional Resources:

• How to Contact Joorney Business Plans:
  • Phone: 18448298639
  • Website: www.joorney.ca
  • Marianella’s E-mail: marianella@joorney.ca
• Joorney Pricing Information: Pricing Canada Oct 2018

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The renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) created a fair amount of anxiety for us immigration lawyers. What would they change? Would caps be put in place on renewals? Would certain professions be removed? Would the work permit options simply be scrapped? With all of the posturing of President Trump, these were all possible outcomes. On September 30, 2018, we learned the fate that awaited NAFTA….

Fortunately, all parties were able to recognize that the free flow of business personnel was in the best interest of all three member countries. When the dust settled, Chapter 16 of the newly branded United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) was left untouched. We can expect the USMCA to become law some time in early 2020.

Most business immigration lawyers, such as myself (and our clients) let out a significant sigh of relief.

Although some of us carried faint hopes that these negotiations would provide an opportunity to update the list of professionals to include digital media occupations that didn’t exist back in 2004 when NAFTA was created. We will continue to settle for the status quo.

So now that NAFTA has not been scrapped, I want to take this opportunity to remind all of you Canadian, American, and Mexican business owners why the USMCA is so important for the movement of cross-border personnel and why it would have truly sucked to see it go.

In this episode, Billie Young an ex-immigration officer like me and member of my immigration Team here at Stringam LLP, joined me to share our “Top 5 reasons why every Canadian, American, and Mexican company will love the USMCA just as much as they did the old NAFTA“.

1. Business Visitors – working in Canada without a work permit
2. After-Sale Service Providers – service contemplated in original sales contract
3. Professionals – hands down…the best work permit option
4. Intra-company transferees – ideal for cross border transfers
5. Traders / Investors – less useful; however, can fill some gaps left by the others

[Tweet “Top 5 reasons immigration lawyers love the USMCA“]

Additional Resources:

• Mark and Billie’s firm – Stringam LLP: https://www.stringam.ca/
• If you need help with obtaining a work permit under NAFTA (USMCA) you can book a consult here: https://www.stringam.ca/immigration-mark-holthe/
• Text of the proposed United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA): https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/united-states-mexico-canada-agreement/united-states-mexico
• NAFTA (USMCA) Immigration Policy (Canada): https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/international-free-trade-agreements/north-american.html
• NAFTA Professional’s List: https://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/Home/Texts-of-the-Agreement/North-American-Free-Trade-Agreement?mvid=1&secid=8fd98e3e-4495-43a8-ba47-4a6955d6b5db#Ap1603.D.1

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So… IRCC is asking you to provide a police certificate. No problem…right? WRONG! Although obtaining police certificates for Canadian immigration purposes can seem like a pretty straightforward thing to do, if taken lightly, it can mean the difference between getting your application approved or rejected.

In this episode, Canadian immigration lawyer Shirish Chotalia joins me to discuss the ins and outs of the volatile area of police certificates and security screening. If you are involved in filing immigration applications, to any degree, you will not want to proceed any further before listening to this Episode.

In this episode Shirish and I discuss some of our craziest client experiences trying to get police clearances to satisfy IRCC’s requirements. When it comes to pretty much any requested document these days, IRCC is ruthless. If you don’t have it and can’t provide it, by the time they want it, you can count on your application getting rejected.

Ms. Shirish Chotalia has more than 30 years  experience in the field of immigration law. She has successfully opposed the decisions of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in the Federal Court and litigated complex cases since 1987. She has successfully conducted appeal hearings and managed complex immigration challenges. ​

If you have not yet had a chance, you can learn more about Shirish in Season 1 Episode 35 : Defending the Vulnerable – An Immigration Lawyer’s Story! This Episode was awesome. It really gives you a feel for who Shirish is and the great advocacy work she has done for her clients over the years….in many cases on a Pro Bono capacity.

In this episode, Shirish and I covered the following topics:

• Why are police clearances necessary?
• When is a police clearance needed.
• How to get a police clearance.
• Specific countries that can create problems for you and your client.
• Practice tips on obtaining police clearances.

[Tweet “Everything you need to know about police clearances“]

Additional Resources:

• Shirish Chotalia’s firm website: http://www.shirishchotalia.com/
• Best way to reach Shirish: info@shirishchotalia.com
• General information on Police Clearances: https://bit.ly/2jdOAsD
• How to get a police clearance: https://bit.ly/2u0GBoC

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If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Visa processing can be tricky business. Although IRCC has taken significant measures to streamline the process and make it easier for us to file applications online and through the various processing centres, inevitably efficiency of process runs into a wall…..for some of our clients, it can be a BRICK WALL. In this episode, Canadian immigration lawyer Christy Jones joins me to discuss some of the more challenging scenarios she has had to work through and together we share some strategies for helping you navigate those quirky cases we all seem to get from time to time.

As a young immigration lawyer, the best decision I ever made was to join the Canadian Bar Association’s National Immigration section. Why?

Because it is probably the most collegial group of professionals in the country. There was always someone willing to share their past experience dealing with tricky situations. This willingness to share gave me access to a wealth of experience that allowed me the ability to quickly climb the steep immigration learning curve essential to practicing in this ever changing area of the law.

In this Episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I was joined by immigration lawyer Christy Jones who practices out of her firm in Toronto, to share some insight on the world of visa processing from a practical perspective. Anyone can follow the IRCC guides and document checklists essential for filing a complete application.

However, what do you do when things start to go off the rails and there is no instruction guide on how to deal with it?

You call a trusted colleague to see if they have already experienced something similar.

This episode is devoted to a number of case scenarios where Christy and I share our thoughts on how best to deal with them. Our listeners will quickly discover that despite our many years of immigration practice, and our relatively consistent approach to most situations, there are times when our approaches to resolving an issue can be quite different. I guess this is what makes immigration so challenging, and yet so enjoyable….there is always more than one way to solve a problem.

Here is a short list of the scenarios we discussed in this episode:

Scenario 1: Employee requiring a Work Permit, with one DUI is denied entry to Canada, and advised to seek a TRP through a visa office before attempting to re-enter. His intended position in Canada renders him eligible for expedited processing under the GSS.

Scenario 2: A GSS eligible application is to be prepared under the intra company transfer (specialized knowledge) provisions, but is not terribly strong. The applicant is visa exempt, but you are not sure whether an officer at the port of entry will agree with the specialized knowledge argument to be presented and the applicant has a long flight to Canada. You decide applying at the POE is too risky. Should you apply online to be processed under the GSS or submit the application to the IMWU for an opinion?

Scenario 3: Applicant with a Work Permit approved under the GSS arrives at the port of entry. The work permit is issued indicating that a medical exam is required within 30 days, however the applicant had not resided in a designated country, and there was no medical conducted toward Work Permit approval.

Scenario 4: An applicant eligible for a Work Permit exemption under the GSS is not issued a Visitor Record at the port of entry upon arrival.

[Tweet “Learn some tips on Visa Processing from experienced immigration counsel“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Christy Jones:
  • E-mail: cjones@jonesimmigrationlaw.com
• Christy’s law firm Jones Immigration Law: http://jonesimmigrationlaw.com/
• Case Scenarios discussed in this Episode: Jones Visa Processing Scenarios

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Are you an Alberta based foreign worker frustrated with how high the CRS has climbed for Express Entry? Are you beginning to think you will never get an ITA? If this is you, the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program’s new Alberta Opportunity Stream may just be the solution for you. 

In this Episode I am flying solo to waste no time in demystifying the recent changes to the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program. I love to share information about immigration that affects my dear Province of Alberta. Finally, I have something to share that is actually a pretty big deal.

The Alberta Opportunity Stream was previously announced back in 2017 with a proposed launch date of January 2018. However, there was a fairly huge push back when stakeholders realized that anyone on an open work permit was going to be left in the dust when it came to getting nominations from the Province of Alberta. Credit to Brad Trefan and the other powers that be in Edmonton – they suspended the launch of the Alberta Opportunity Stream to listen to stakeholders and make sure they got it right. The local chapter of the Canadian Bar Association was one of many stakeholders who offered their thoughts on the proposed changes.

I think Brad and the gang actually did a pretty good job at getting the balance just about right!

On June 14, 2018 the Alberta Opportunity Stream was officially launched. In this Episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I share my thoughts on the changes and highlight what this new Selection Criteria is all about.

[Tweet “Alberta Opportunity Stream comes to life.“]

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Read the Transcript

You can read additional notes for this episode, [spoiler]

CIP – Season 3 Episode 4 – AINP – Alberta Opportunities Stream Launched

• Second attempt – Dec 2017 originally announced changes with little stakeholder involvement
o Anyone on open work permit – excluded – including PGWP
o Huge backlash resulted in suspension of rollout
• June 14th – relaunched the new Alberta Opportunities Stream

• Lots that we do not know about the new harmonized stream; including the criteria upon which the new Express Entry stream will be based upon.

o significant connection to Alberta likely required
o Maybe somewhat similar to OINP’s Human Capital Stream – don’t know at this stage.
• So what do we know?
• Program was dominated by some sectors and some occupations:

• 6311 – Food Service Supervisors
• 6211 – Retail Sales Supervisors
• 7511 – Transport Truck Drivers
• 1241 – Administrative assistants
• 7284 – Plasterers, Drywall Installers and Finishers and Lathers
• 3421 – Retail Salespersons
• 0631 – Restaurant and Food Services Managers
• 0621 – Retail and Wholesale Trade Managers
• 6315 – Cleaning Supervisors

• Application intake and nomination guidelines may be put in place that would set the maximum number of applications accepted and nominations issued each year, as well as maximums for applications and nominations by sector and occupation. Announcements about application intake and nomination guidelines will be available on the AINP news page.

Nomination certificate limits for 2018
As of June 14, 2018, the AINP:
• is authorized to issue a maximum of 5,600 nominations for the 2018 calendar year. This limit is set by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
• has issued 2,277 nomination certificates in 2018  3323 spots left
• has approximately 4,700 applications awaiting assessment for eligibility
• Even with no new applications after June 14th – there are still 1,377 more applications than nomination spots
o There will be more application submitted this year
o We have a number going in right away
o Some will get refused or otherwise found ineligible
o Safe to say a slight backlog will continue to exist.

• So what has the AINP done to “reduce” the influx? A new Selection Criteria

• Let’s take a look at the Alberta Opportunity Stream (AOS)’s new selection criteria

Alberta Opportunity Stream (AOS)

• Selection Criteria has been both expanded and constricted
• New requirements such as language, education and income will be phased in over the next three years
o These will increase as time goes on – you can check the future requirements out at the Planned AOS Criteria Changes webpage.
o

Okay, let’s dig into this new selection criteria.

1. Residency status and work permit requirements

At the time your application is postmarked and at the time the AINP assesses your application:
• Valid work permit (not implied status or restoring status) based on one of these categories:
o LMIA
o IMP WP (includes IEC, NAFTA ICTs etc.) Spousal Open WPs EXCLUDED?
o PGWP AND:
 Graduated from Alberta Advanced Education approved post secondary institution AND;
 If 1 to 2 year diploma, the credential must be on the approved Alberta Advanced Education Undergraduate credentials list
• NOTE: Bachelors, masters, doctorals just need to be from one of the approved Alberta educational institutions AND
 Current occupation must be related to your field of study in Alberta
• If graduated with eligible 1 year certificate, your current occupation must also be related to your previous undergraduate or graduate field of study outside Canada.

2. Occupation requirements

• Only eligible occupations can qualify – must be on the list AND
• Work in occupation that matches your previous work experience – we’ll discuss what this means a little later
• If PGWP holder, your occupation must be related to your field of study in Alberta
o Issues:
 What does “related to your field of study mean”? How closely related? Only time will tell.
• Will a business admin diplomas still work for filling a food service supervisor position at Dairy Queen? – Maybe?
• If PGWP holder with only one year certificate your occupation must also relate to your previous undergrad or graduate field of study outside Canada? —-

o WOW! That is super restrictive for PGWP holders with one year programs. (Basically saying….go to Express Entry and don’t burn up our AINP nomination quota)
• POSITIVE – Most 0,A,B C AND D occupations will work – but there are ineligible occupations

• Two ineligible occupations lists exist (if your occupation is on the list – can’t apply to AINP:
o AOS list – applies to everyone – if your occupation is on the list
o ESDC High wage/ Low wage Alberta LMIA refusal to process list – applies to PGWP holders only

3. English or French language requirements
• CLB 4 – for each skill until June 14, 2019 – increases to CLB5
o 3413 Nurse aides and orderlies = CLB 7
• CELPIP/IELTS/TEF – valid for 2 years

4. Education requirements

• Minimum high school  in your country until Jan 1, 2012 = AB HS equivalency required
• PGWP – AB school, on the education list

5. Work experience requirements

• You must be working in an occupation that matches your work experience at the time your application is postmarked and at the time the AINP assesses your application.

• Qualifying Work Experience:
o Min 12 months – F/T in current occupation within last 18 months OR
o Min 24 months – F/T in current occupation in Canada (overseas) within last 30 months
 Can be a combination of experience in AB, Canada and/or abroad OR
o IF PGWP holder – min 6 months – F/T in current occupation in last 18 months AND current occupation related to your field of study in Alberta
• Work experience in Qualifying Period must be:
o F/T (30 hrs/w) NOTE: P/T will not be considered
o For same occupation as your current occupation
o Obtained in legal status
o Not gained while studying or doing co-op or internship
 EXCEPTION – co-op work placement or internship as part of study program
• Paid, F/T (30 hrs)
• Directly related to current occupation
• Work experience gained in Alberta

• Additional requirements:
o Licensing, registration, certification to work in occupation
 POINT TO CONSIDER: Optional Trades may now be eligible without trade certificate – provided not on the ineligible list
o Full time job offer from Alberta employer and working for that employer
 Employer must:
• Be incorporated or registered and operating in Alberta
o Established production capability, plant or place of business AND
• Job Offer signed by both parties and must:
o Continuous paid work
o F/T – 30 hours/week min
o Employment for 12 months+
o Work in your current occupation AND
o Eligible occupation that meets work permit requirements
 LMIA, IMP or PGWP related to field of study and education
o Ineligible situations:
 P/T employees – regardless of hours
 Independent Contractors
 Business owners
 Temp agency workers
 Directors, shareholders or agents of Alberta employer on Corporate Registry System (CORES)
 working in a home=based business
 virtual employees working for AB employer “outside” Alberta.

6. Income level requirements

• must meet a minimum gross annual income level based on your “family unit” size.
• Spouse, dependent child (under 22) (whether accompanying you or not)
• Must use the “Income Calculation Worksheet”
• Can include “taxable benefits” in income calculation:
o ■ automobiles or other motor vehicles
o ■ board and lodging
o ■ gifts and awards
o ■ group term life insurance policies
o ■ interest-free or low-interest loans
o ■ meals
o ■ security options
o ■ tool reimbursement or allowance
o ■ transit passes
o ■ tuition fees
• Can count spouse’s income towards family unit income if:
o has a yearly Alberta income before tax that is greater or equal to 42% of your yearly income before tax, and
o has a bona fide job offer from an Alberta employer for part-time or full-time work in any occupation and is working with authorization for that Alberta employer.

• Use Alberta’s Low Income Measure (LIM) chart (currently at 70% of the AB LIM)
o Increase to 75% Jan 1, 2020
o Increase to 80% Jan 1, 2021

[/spoiler]

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Do you need to get documents translated quickly for your immigration application? Are you struggling with who to choose and how to know if the person doing the translation is worth their salt? Tune in to this Episode where I interview the owner of one of the most respected translation and interpreter companies in Alberta. Not only will you come away with essential tips on how to choose a translator, but greater insight on how difficult it actually is to translate properly. Join me as we pull the curtains back on the mysterious world of document translation and interpretation.

In this episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I caught up with Monica De Maria, the Owner and President of Giovanni Translation and Interpretation located in Calgary, Alberta.

Giovanni Translation & Interpretation was formed 37 years ago in Calgary, Alberta. The company has grown over the decades and now offers translation and interpretation services in over 60 languages to the federal, provincial and municipal governments, oil companies, law enforcement agencies, the Courts, law firms, insurance companies, medical professionals, and community organizations.

The company was founded by Monica’s parents and she has continued forward in maintaining the company as one of the most well respected translation and interpretation companies in all of Alberta and beyond. It was an absolute pleasure to interview Monica. As a lawyer or consultant advising on Canadian immigration matters, you are most assuredly going to have need of a translator or interpreter at some point in time.

Monica is a graduate of the University of Calgary, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with distinction and of the University of Ottawa, where she was granted a BA Honours in Translation Magna Cum Laude.

Following graduation, Monica launched her career as a professional translator and interpreter offering services in any combination of French, Spanish and English. She is recognized as a certified legal interpreter by both the Association of Translators & Interpreters of Alberta (ATIA) and the Alberta Court Interpreters Association (ACIA). She is also accredited by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) as a French and Spanish interpreter and provides interpretation services to the IRB, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (formerly known as CIC). She travels all over the province of Alberta to interpret at court proceedings and questionings.

In addition to her skills as a legal interpreter, Monica is also recognized as a French and Spanish medical interpreter. She completed the Health Care Interpreter program at Bow Valley College in both French and Spanish and interprets at hospitals and clinics and for Independent Medical Examinations. Moreover, Monica provides simultaneous interpretation services at conferences and for the government.

In this episode, we covered the following topics:

1. The history of her company and how Monica got into translation.
2. The difference between a certified and uncertified translator.
3. The most common documents Giovanni translates for immigration purposes.
4. The process involved in getting a document translated.
5. How interpreters work with the IAD and IRB
6. Tips for choosing a translator
7. Best practices for working with a translator to get your documents translated fast.

[Tweet “Essential tips on getting your immigration document translated fast“]

Links from the Podcast

1. The best way to reach Monica De Maria:
   • E-mail: gtiservices@shaw.ca
   • Phone: 403-542-7614
2. Monica’s company – Giovanni Translators and Interpreters: http://www.gti-services.ca/contact

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Are you considering sending one of your clients to a Canadian port of entry to benefit from faster processing? STOP! Listen to this Episode before you even think about doing this. Yes…..you will get faster processing – however, you may not be as thrilled with the decision you get on that application. Join me in this Episode where I share some of my own x-immigration officer insight on navigating Canadian ports of entry.

For the last couple of years, I have always followed an interview format on my Canadian Immigration Podcast. There has always been an awesome guest who joins me to discuss the various topics I cover on Canadian immigration. However, in this episode I decided to “go solo” for a change.

In the summer of 2002 (wow….it’s hard to believe so much time as passed), this  young fellow had the opportunity to work as an immigration officer at the Carway and Chief Mountain POEs straddling the Alberta/Montana border. To a large extent, my experience over that summer and the following year working as a “pro bono” slave to the hearings officer in Calgary while I finished up law school, shaped my desire to practice immigration law today.

I truly believe that those experiences gained working as an immigration officer have made me a better immigration lawyer today. I often find myself drawing upon those experiences when I advice clients and ultimately with the way in which I create my immigration applications and supporting documents. I will forever be grateful to all of the fine officers I worked with those many years ago.

A recent client experience shared with me by a friend and past colleague caused me to do this episode today. Navigating the Canadian POEs can truly be a Jekyll and Hyde experience. In this episode I shared a little insight that I hope will help you as you contemplate sending your clients through a port of entry for immigration purposes.

In this episode, I covered the following topics:

1. Why are POEs more difficult today than they used to be?
2. The cultural transformation that has gone on at Canadian POEs.
3. My thoughts on why things are the way they are.
4. Tips and strategies to help you when dealing with Canadian POEs.

[Tweet “Canadian POEs, a Jekyll and Hyde Experience“]

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At some point in July 2018, the recreational use of Marijuana will become legal in Canada….however, Prime Minister Trudeau has confirmed it WILL NOT be Canada Day (July 1, 2018). With the explosion of this new industry, there is going to be a significant need for Marijuana Professionals to fill labour shortages and skill gaps within this industry in Canada. Immigration Lawyer, Betsy Kane and I discuss some of the existing work permit options that may be available to secure work authorization for these specialized marijuana workers in Canada.

Betsy joined me once again to tackle this brand new topic that has not received too much coverage within Canadian immigration to date. However, it is clear that once recreational use of marijuana becomes legal in Canada, there is going to be a significant need for people with expertise in this unique industry.

If you would like to learn more about Betsy and her firm, listen in to Season 1 Episode 22 where Betsy discusses a little more about how she got into immigration and her firm Capelle Kane which has been operating in Ottawa since 1994.

In this first episode of 2018, Betsy and I covered the following topics:

1. What is happening within the Marijuana industry in Canada.
2. What types of workers and specialized personnel are going to be needed.
3. The various work permit categories currently available.
4. Trouble areas that could pop up
5. Tips for helping your professional – look professional when apply for their work permit at the Port of Entry

[Tweet “How to Bring Marijuana Professionals into Canada“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Betsy Kane:
  • Capelle Kane law firm: http://www.capellekane.com/
• Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis in Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/policing/justice/legalization-regulation-marijuana.html
• Global Talent Stream: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/foreign-workers/global-talent/requirements.html
• LMIA Process: https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/foreign-workers.html
• NAFTA Professionals: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/international-free-trade-agreements/north-american.html
• International Experience Canada: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/eligibility.asp
• C10 – Significant Benefit: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/labour-market-impact-assessments/canadian-interests-significant-benefit-general-guidelines-r205-c10.html

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The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program recently announced some pretty sweeping changes to come into effect in 2018. As the pioneer of PNP programs across Canada, the Province of Manitoba has always been a trend setter in developing creative ways to encourage settlement in their province. In this episode I invited back Canadian immigration lawyer Alastair Clarke to join me to talk about these changes.

Alastair began working with immigration issues as a student leader at the University of Victoria in 1996. For almost 20 years, Alastair has been active with immigrant communities. Alastair’s current legal practice encompasses all areas of immigration and refugee law.

Alastair joined my previously in Season 1 Episode 25 where we talked about his background and how he got into immigration in the first place. If you’d like to learn more about Alastair, I would encourage to you go back to this past episode to get to know Alastair a little better.

In this Episode we covered the following specific topics related to the recently announced changes to the Manitoba PNP:

1. What has been the focus of the MPNP over the past years?
2. What are the announced changes and how do they propose to change the program?
3. New focus on “in demand occupations.
4. New focus on STEM graduates.
5. Changes to the business stream.

[Tweet “Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program – Changes coming for 2018“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Alastair Clarke:
  • E-mail: info@apply2manitoba.ca
  • Alastair’s law firm Clarke Immigration Law: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/
• Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program: http://www.immigratemanitoba.com/
• Announcement: Atlantic Immigration Pilot

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The Atlantic Immigration Pilot may just be the best immigration program in existence in Canada today. In this Episode, Canadian Immigration Lawyer Janet Thompson-Price shared some insight on the program that you will not want to miss. I truly believe this program has been the best kept secret of all the various Provincial based programs currently in operation across Canada and one I hope becomes permanent for the Atlantic Provinces.

Janet Thompson Price earned her Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of New Brunswick. Upon graduation, Janet articled with the Atlantic Canadian law firm of Stewart McKelvey where she remained for a number of years in their litigation department.

Janet is the current Section Chair for the New Brunswick branch of the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Law Section. Janet has been invited to speak at countless immigration conferences both within New Brunswick and across Canada.

In 2009, Janet was chosen to be one of the esteemed 21st Leaders for the 21st Century where she was fortunate to travel across New Brunswick meeting dynamic New Brunswickers both in the public and private sectors. This invaluable experience has shown how local business people are thriving in a global economy.

Janet has served on a number of community boards including the Saint John Multicultural and Newcomers Resource Centre, and the Saint John YM-YWCA.

Her proudest accomplishment is her family. Janet and her husband Todd are the proud parents of 3 children.

Janet is passionate about helping people immigrate to Canada. As a daughter of immigrant parents , she remembers the proud day her parents became Canadian Citizens.

In this Episode we covered the following specific topics related to the Atlantic Immigration Pilot program:

1. What is it and why was it created?
2. How does the program work?
3. How does the employer designation process work?
4. What are the various programs within the Pilot?
5. How long does it take to process applications?

[Tweet “Atlantic Immigration Pilot – Everything you wanted to know!“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Janet Thompson-Price:
  • E-mail: janet@thompsonpricelaw.com
  • Facebook: Thompson Price Law
  • Janet’s law firm Thompson Price Law: http://www.thompsonpricelaw.com/
• Infographic on the Atlantic Immigration Pilot

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With the annual Parental Sponsorship lottery opening up in January 2018, the timing is perfect for an Episode dedicated to the Canadian Parental Sponsorship process. If you are considering filing an application to sponsor a parent or grandparent from abroad don’t even think about submitting that application until you have listened to what Canadian Immigration Lawyer Ravi Jain had to say.

It was great to have Ravi Jain of Green and Spiegel in Toronto, join me to discuss this very timely topic. If you want to learn more about Ravi, you can listen to his background in Season 1 Episode 17 – Canadian Spousal Sponsorship – Can you really afford to make a mistake? Ravi has distinguished himself as one of the leaders in our immigration field in Canada. However, when you listen to him on this Episode, you will very easily see that he is….simply put…..an “awesome” guy…super generous with his knowledge and an overall good guy….right to the core – who practices entirely in the right way.

In this Episode we covered the following specific topics:

1. What is the Parental Sponsorship process?
2. What are the qualification requirements?
3. Recent case law on Parental Sponsorship.
4. Helpful tips on ensuring your Sponsorship is not rejected.
5. What to do if you are facing a refusal?

[Tweet “Are you ready for the Parental Sponsorship Lottery?“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Ravi Jain:
  • E-mail: ravij@gands.com
  • Phone: 416-866-2186
  • Ravi’s law firm Green and Spiegel: http://www.gands.com/home
• Federal Court Case discussed in our Podcast: Nematollahi v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration 2017 FC 755

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Although the topic of government sponsored refugees has dropped slightly off the political landscape, the notion of privately sponsored refugees is still very much a topic of interest amongst Canadians. In Season 1 Episode 29 Canadian immigration lawyer Ronalee Carey joined me to talk about her experience working with the G30+ Ottawa Constituency Group who were involved in the private sponsorship of refugees to Canada.

Because of the success of that Episode, I just had to have her back to provide us with an update regarding a particular Syrian family that has now landed in Canada through the work of Ronalee and the other members of the G30+ Group. However, the real value Ronalee provides in this Episode is the amazing insight she shares regarding the government’s Blended Visa Office Referral program….a program Ronalee strongly encourages all of us to get involved with.

If you would like to learn a little more about Ronalee Carey and her journey leading up to the practice of immigration law, please go back and listen to the interview I did with her in Season 1 Episode 29: The Private Sponsorship of Refugees – Everything you Wanted to Know with Ronalee Carey.

You can read a more detailed explanation of the process in this excellent paper prepared by Ronalee’s law office entitled: An Overview of the Canadian Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program.

In this Episode we covered the following specific topics:

1. What are BVOR sponsorships (Blended Visa Office Referred), and how they differ from other private sponsorship arrangements?
2. What are the financial obligations for sponsors?
3. What is the application process like, and how long does it take?
4. How do you work with individuals with whom you do not share a language?
5. Once the refugees arrive in Canada, what are the sponsor’s obligations and how is all of this managed with a large group of volunteers?
6. The extent to which other countries are now starting to follow Canada’s lead, and start their own private sponsorship of refugees program?

[Tweet “What is the BVOR Refugee Program? How can I get involved?“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Ronalee:
  • E-mail: rcarey@ronaleecareylaw.ca
  • Phone Number:(613) 564-8301
  • Ronalee’s law firm: Ronalee Carey Law: http://ronaleecareylaw.ca/
• An Overview of the Canadian Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program – by Ronalee Carey Law Office
• History of Refuge in Canada (Government of Canada Document): http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/games/teachers-corner/refugee/refuge.asp

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Are you currently outside of Canada needing to extend an expiring PR Card? Are you concerned about the very real possibility of losing your Canadian PR status? If you answered yes to either of these questions, this Episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast is for you.

In this episode, Canadian immigration lawyer, Robert Leong joined me to examine this topic in detail. He shared some great insight on why complying with IRCC’s periodic request to apply for a Permanent Resident Travel Document, can create some unexpected and harsh consequences. This is one you will not want to miss!

It was great to have Robert join me again to discuss another great Canadian immigration topic. To learn more about Robert and how he got into immigration in the first place, check out the interview I did with him in Season 1 Episode 31 where we talked about challenges with the LMIA advertising requirements.

In this Episode, Robert builds on the previous interview I did with Canadian immigration lawyer Chantal Desloges in Season 2 Episode 3 on “Retaining Permanent Resident Status“. Robert shares some extremely valuable insight on the dangers of following a visa officer’s instructions to apply for a Permanent Resident Travel Document to return to Canada when an application has already been submitted to extend an expired PR Card…….listen in to learn what Robert has to say!

In this Episode we covered the following specific topics:

1. Overview of PR residency obligations
2. Exemptions to the 2 in 5 rule
3. PR Card processing delays
4. Why you should be concerned when IRCC tells you to apply for a PRTD
5. Tips for extending your PR Card if living outside of Canada

[Tweet “Tips for Extending your PR Card when outside Canada“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Robert:
  • E-mail: info@canadavisalaw.com
  • Phone Number: (604) 875-9338
  • Robert’s law firm: Lowe and Company: http://www.canadavisalaw.com/
• OP 10 Section 5.1 (Old Manual): www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/op/op10-eng.pdf
• Khan v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2012 FC 1471: http://bit.ly/2wVUHH8

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Have you ever wondered why the Province of Quebec has a separate immigration program? In this episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I caught up to Quebec Immigration Lawyer Genevieve Henault who took some time to answer this question as well give us a great overview of the various permanent and temporary immigration options unique to the Province of Quebec.

One thing is for certain, after listening to Genevieve’s interview, she just about makes me want to relocate to Quebec….just about, that is!

Genevieve joined me to share some insight on Quebec Immigration Programs. This is something that we have not yet had an opportunity to address on the Podcast and as such, I was delighted to have Genevieve join me to share from her wealth of experience practicing as an immigration lawyer in Quebec.

Genevieve Henault practices with the law firm of Gomberg Dalfen S.E.N.C. in Montreal, Quebec.  She was called to the Quebec bar in 1999 and has been with Gomberg Dalfen since 2008. Prior to that she had her own law office from 2000 to 2007 where she was a frequently speaker and presenter all over the world, representing clients from all over the globe including Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.

Genevieve has served as an Executive Member of the Canadian Bar Association’s Quebec Division of the Citizenship and Immigration Section since 2004. She has been a frequent speaker at various Canadian Bar Association Immigration Conferences and other immigration related events.

In this Episode Genevieve walked us through some of the main permanent resident and temporary work permit options that are available to foreign nationals seeking to live and work in the Province of Quebec:

1. Permanent Residence:
   • Investors
   • Entrepreneurs
   • Self-employed
   • Quebec Experience Class
     • Skilled Workers
     • Quebec Graduated
   • Quebec Regular Skilled Worker Program
     • Permanent Job Validation
2. Temporary Work Permits:
   • Quebec Simplified LMIA process
   • Quebec Bridging Work Permits (exemption code A75)

[Tweet “Quebec Immigration Options“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Genevieve Henault:
  • E-mail: ghenault@gombergdalfen.ca
  • Phone Number: (514) 845-0990
• Genevieve’s law firm: Gomberg Dalfen S.E.N.C.: http://www.gombergdalfen.ca/

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Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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Each fall, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada releases their annual Immigration Levels Plan. Currently these levels are set at just over 300,000 for 2017. This sure seems like a lot of new immigrants. However, have you every really thought about how many actually stay in Canada after they arrive? This is the question Canadian Immigration lawyer Carter Hoppe and I discussed in Episode 10 of the Canadian Immigration Podcast. 

This is the second time Carter Hoppe has joined me on my Podcast. Previously, Carter and I discussed the various immigrant investor programs in Canada and abroad in Season 2 Episode 2. Carter did such an awesome job in that Episode, that I just had to have him back.

Carter is a Member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and practices out of his office in Dubai, UAE.  You can learn more about Carter’s background from the show notes in Season 2 Episode 2.

In this episode Cater and I discuss the effect the residency requirements have had on Canadian permanent residents who have not yet decided, or who may not yet be ready to centralize their mode of existence in Canada just yet. In other words, there are a fairly significant portion of those 300,000 newly landed PRs who may, for a number of reasons, choose not to remain in Canada.

So how does this fact impact on IRCC’s Annual Levels Plans?

Does IRCC even track this information?

So if you are an official within IRCC who has knowledge regarding the statistics for PRs who ultimately renounce or otherwise lose their PR status, we would love to get our hands on that data. You can send me an e-mail to mholthe@stringam.ca if you’d like to share it because I really do not want to have to file…yet another….ATIP request. 🙂

In this Episode Carter and I discussed the following:

1. maintaining residence in Canada and another country;
2. loss of PR status through informal breaches of residency obligations;
3. loss of PR status through formal renunciation; and
4. Canada’s Annual Levels Planning.

[Tweet “Should I Stay or Should I Go – Choosing to Remain a Canadian PR!“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Carter Hoppe: carter@carterhoppe.com
• IRCC Levels Planning 2017: http://www.cic.gc.ca/English/department/media/notices/2016-10-31.asp 
• Standing Committee Report on Consultant Regulation: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/CIMM/report-11/

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In Season 1 Episode 15 released on May 11, 2016, I invited Canadian immigration lawyer Chris Veeman to join me to talk about the “then” recently announced changes to the Canadian citizenship process. Well it’s been over one full year later and we are still waiting….

In this Episode I invited Chris back for an encore performance to bring us up to speed on where we are at right now and how much longer we are going to have to wait to see these significant changes become law.

Chris Veeman is a Member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan. He practices immigration law in Saskatoon within his own law office, Veeman Law.

He is a graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law (2003). A former Federal Court of Canada law clerk to the Honourable Madam Justice Sandra J. Simpson, he has been practicing immigration law since 2003. He has been based in Saskatoon (his home town) since 2004.

He has been invited to appear as a witness on citizenship matters before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration on several occasions (2008, 2014, 2016), and has represented clients in numerous high-profile refugee, immigration and citizenship cases.

He served as an Executive Member of the CBA’s National Immigration Law section (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) and authors the Chapter on the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program in Carswell’s text A Practical Guide to Provincial Nominee Programs in Canadian Immigration Law. 

In this episode Chris and I discuss the following changes that will be coming (hopefully before Canada Day, July 1, 2017) to Canada’s Citizenship process :

1. revocation of citizenship;
2. reversal of the past Conservative government’s changes to residency requirements;
3. how time spent as a temporary resident will be counted towards eligibility for citizenship;
4. age limits for language testing.

[Tweet “Changes to Canadian Citizenship are almost here!“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Chris Veeman: www.veemanlaw.com
• Current Citizenship Policy: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/tools/cit/index.asp
• Current Status of Bill C-6: http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?billId=8117654&Language=E&Mode=1

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Finding out that you, or a dependent family member, may be medically inadmissible to Canada can be one of the worst days of a foreign national’s life. Just when the prospect of becoming a Canadian permanent resident is clearly in sight, you receive a fairness letter from IRCC that threatens to unravel everything you have worked so hard to achieve.  In this episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I was extremely fortunate to catch up to one of the country’s foremost experts on medical inadmissibility, Mario Bellissimo. Mario has pretty much established himself as the go to immigration lawyer for any foreign national facing the terrifying reality of an IRCC procedural fairness letter related to medical inadmissibility.

If you have just received a fairness letter from IRCC, do not do anything until you have first had a chance to listen to what Mario has to say. It could just mean the difference between realizing your dream of immigrating to Canada and being forever barred from ever becoming a permanent resident.

Mario Bellissimo is the founder of Bellissimo Law Group in Toronto, Ontario. He is a Certified Specialist in Citizenship and Immigration Law and Refugee Protection with a practice focused on litigation and immigration inadmissibility. He is truly the perfect choice to discuss this complex area of Canadian immigration law.

Mario has appeared before all levels of immigration tribunals and courts including the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a Past Chair of the Canadian Bar Association National Immigration Law Section and serves on multiple stakeholder committees involving IRCC, the CBSA, Service Canada, the Federal Courts, the Department of Justice, the Immigration and Refugee Board and Continuing Legal Education.

He has consistently been chosen by his peers as one of the Best Lawyers in Canada garnering Lawyer of the Year honours with “Best Lawyers” for 2016. This is the only purely peer reviewed guide to the legal profession.

In this episode Mario shares with us his Top 5 considerations when responding to a fairness letter related to medical inadmissibility.

1. the importance of requesting an extension of time to provide fuller and more comprehensive submissions and supporting evidence;
2. the need to address the legal timeline within submissions and evidence;
3. the consequences of failing to properly research and understand the interplay between Federal and Provincial delivery of health and social services and private versus public health coverage;
4. applying the right legal test;
5. knowing the case that must be met to succeed.

[Tweet “What to do when faced with medical inadmissibility in Canada.“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Mario Bellissimo:
  • info@bellissimolawgroup.com
  • 1-877-787-8850 (toll free)
  • 416-787-6505 (local)
• Mario’s law firm – Bellissimo Law Group: https://www.bellissimolawgroup.com/
• Medical Inadmissibility Page: https://www.bellissimolawgroup.com/medical-cases/
• Latest Immigration Court Decisions: https://www.bellissimolawgroup.com/medical-refusals/
• Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Inadmissibility Law, 2nd Edition: http://www.carswell.com/product-detail/canadian-citizenship-and-immigration-inadmissibility-law-2nd-edition/
• Radio Interview: Mario D. Bellissimo Interviewed by John Oakley on AM640 (A foreign national who was denied Permanent Residence due to autism): http://bit.ly/2paVQYt

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There is often a love hate relationship that exists with the various Provincial Nominee Programs across the country. The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program is no different. With limited quotas each year and significant processing delays, it makes it very difficult for immigration counsel to recommend the program for anyone that is under time constraints or other time sensitive limitations where certainty in processing is critical. In this episode, immigration lawyer Sarah Fagan shares some insight on what is going on within the OINP today and what we might be able to expect in the near future as it struggles to reinvent itself as a more attractive option for foreign nationals seeking to become permanent residents of Canada.

In this episode, I had a chance to talk to Sarah about her experience immigrating to Canada as a skilled worker. Although she is now a permanent resident of Canada practicing immigration law with the law firm of Rekai LLP in Toronto, she had quite humble beginning as she carved out her own path to practicing law in Canada. Her story is fascinating and inspiring for anyone who is wondering if they have what it takes to make it as a professional in Canada.

Sarah was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in the Republic of Ireland in 2009, and to the Roll of Solicitors in England and Wales in 2010. She holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (Honours) Degree from University College Dublin. Sarah was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2014.

Sarah joined Rekai LLP in March 2014, having gained several years of corporate immigration law experience with the Toronto office of a prominent international law firm. She has experience assisting clients with a variety of immigration matters, including: labour market impact assessments, employer compliance reviews, work permits, study permits, visitor records, temporary resident visas, temporary resident permits, criminal rehabilitation, permanent residence and citizenship.

In this episode Sarah and I discussed the following topics:

• what the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program is all about;
• the types of programs that are available;
• processing times and other challenges;
• how the new online system works and the OINPs transition to online filing;
• tips and strategies for avoiding the most common pitfalls;
• what the future holds for the OINP.

Sarah also shared the following information with me after the recording of this episode that she thought everyone might find helpful:

“Key points that I should have covered re Notifications of Interest – NOIs – is that individuals who are in the pool with 400 points upwards who qualify for Ontario Human Capital Priorities Stream (OHCPS) who have not received an NOI since the program re-opened on Feb 21, 2017 and want to avail of the OHCPS, should create and submit a new profile to better their chances of receiving an NOI – apparently this is due to some glitch between IRCC and the OINPs systems. It is something that they have posted a notice about in the past during the infancy stages of OHCPS on their website, but there is no notice about it at present.  Also, there is no automatic notification of an NOI via email. You must check your IRCC online account regularly for same.

I also should have mentioned reconsiderations [of refused applications] during our chat, which have recently moved from a paper process to an online process – unfortunately our experience with those has not been positive and once again, they are extremely slow.“

[Tweet “What does the future hold for the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Sarah Fagan: sfagan@mobilitylaw.com
• Sarah’s law firm Rekai LLP: http://www.mobilitylaw.com/
• OINP Tip Sheet for Online Filing: oi_en_efiling
• E-mail address for technical issues with an online OINP application or the OINP e-filing portal: OINP.technical-POCI.technique@ontario.ca
• One-key login: https://www.one-key.gov.on.ca/iaalogin/IAALogin.jsp
• One-key registration: https://www.appenrol.one-key.gov.on.ca/UserMgmtWebApp/registration.iaa
• OINP Program Updates page: http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/pnp/OI_PNPNEW.html

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If you are a foreign doctor wondering what it takes to actually practice medicine in Canada, this Episode is for you. Immigrating to Canada is often the easy part – understanding what it takes to actually qualify to work as a doctor is something entirely different.

Canadian immigration lawyer, Irma Roberts joined me to shed some much needed light on this very confusing and difficult process.

I am sure most of us have heard the failings of our old Federal Skilled Worker Program which opened Canada’s doors to permanent resident status for foreign trained doctors only to see them driving taxis when they arrived. In this episode Calgary, Alberta based immigration lawyer Irma Roberts joins me to explain exactly what an International Medical Graduate needs to do to qualify to practice medicine in Canada.

Irma Roberts has likely represented more foreign trained doctors in their efforts to become permanent residents of Canada than any other immigration lawyer in the country. Having her come on the Podcast was a complete no-brainer.

Irma practices out of her own law firm in Calgary, Alberta. She has been involved with the Canadian Bar Association’s local immigration section for a number of years including serving as the Chapter Chair and in a number of other capacities. Irma is heavily involved in volunteer work in Calgary currently serving as a Director on the Board of the Sunrise Community Link, a local anti-poverty organization. She is one of those lawyers that is doing it right. She cares about her clients and takes her responsibility to give back to the community very seriously.

In this episode Irma and I discussed the following topics:

• the difference between working as a physician in Canada and immigrating as a physician;
• what is an international medical graduate (IMG);
• how to verify your qualifications as a physicians;
• what is the evaluation exam;
• can IMGs do their residency in Canada;
• how does the resident matching program work; and
• what are the best options for obtaining PR status in Canada.

[Tweet “How foreign doctors can immigrate and practice as doctors in Canada.“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Irma Roberts: irmaroberts@shaw.ca
• Irma’s law office: http://www.irmaroberts.com/
• Physician’s Apply Website: http://physiciansapply.ca/
• Sunrise Community Link: http://www.sunriselink.org/
• Canadian Resident Matching: http://www.carms.ca/en/

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As many are likely aware by now… US President Donald Trump is acting quickly on his campaign promises. Through the use of some very strategic executive orders, he has shaken the very foundation of immigration law and policy in the United States. Although this Podcast is traditionally devoted to Canadian immigration, my special guest Heather Segal, a Canadian immigration lawyer and US immigration attorney, shares insight on not only what is happening in the US, but the potential impact it could have for Canadian immigration.

If you think what is happening in the US will have no impact on us in Canada, listen to what Heather has to say… you might just have a different outlook when you are finished!

If you are anything like me, you are probably wondering what the heck is going on south of the border. Although many of us thought President Donald Trump would do some pretty crazy things while in office, I’ll bet none of you thought he would act so quickly to ensure his campaign promises became a reality. I am seriously starting to think that President Trump’s wall between Mexico and the US might actually happen……. who actually “pays for it” is an entirely different topic.

Heather Segal and I had a great time talking about what is happening in the US and musing over the possible ramifications, both good and bad, for immigration in Canada. One thing is certain, we will be impacted one way or another. With any luck for us immigration lawyers, Canadian immigration will be booming once again in just a few short months.

Heather Segal is founder of Segal Immigration Law in Toronto. She is widely recognized for her expertise in immigration law and she speaks regularly at conferences and seminars throughout the world. Heather practices exclusively in the area of Canadian immigration law and American Consular and Border immigration law.

She has spent a decade as a Director on the Board of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).  She is currently a member of the AILA Customs and Border Protection National Liaison Committee. She was voted by her peers as one of the world’s leading practitioners in corporate immigration law in 2018 in Who’s Who Legal – Corporate Immigration, a distinction I am also grateful to have received.

In this episode Heather and I discussed the following topics:

• background on the current executive orders and what they mean;
• how US immigration policy compares with immigration policy in Canada;
• the potential impacts of US immigration policy on Canadian immigration;
• what President Trump intends for H1B and L visas in the US; and
• what does President Trump have in store for NAFTA.

[Tweet “How will Trump’s immigration policy impact on Canada.“]

Additional Resources:

• The best ways to reach Heather Segal:
  • E-mail: heather@segalilaw.com
  • Phone: 416-656-2345
  • LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathersegal1
• Heather’s firm Segal Immigration Law: http://segalilaw.com/
• Full Text of Trump’s Executive Order – “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States“: http://www.npr.org/2017/01/31/512439121/trumps-executive-order-on-immigration-annotated

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If  you are employed in athletics or the arts and are able to make a “significant contribution” to the cultural or athletic life of Canada, OR you have experience in farm management, and intend and are able to buy and manage a farm in Canada, this episode is for you.

In this episode I had the pleasure of catching up with Canadian immigration lawyer Peter Rekai who shared some fantastic insight on one of the most neglected permanent resident programs in the country…..the Self Employed category.

This episode was probably one of the most enjoyable I have done to date. Peter was a fantastic guest who shared some great stories from his early days of practice. We also talked about the way the practice of immigration law has changed over the years and how much we miss those good old days…..and yes, we also talked about the often neglected Self Employed category for obtaining permanent resident status in Canada.

Peter Rekai is a Barrister and Solicitor who, like many of my guests in Ontario, is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Immigration Law. Peter’s firm, Rekai LLP, is one of the most well respected immigration law firms in Canada.

Over the past twenty-five years Peter has represented major employers, expanding new businesses and skilled individuals in dealing with Canadian immigration issues. He has a particular expertise in assisting trade and industry associations address comprehensive foreign worker strategies with the federal government.

Peter is a frequent lecturer at Immigration practice and international policy conferences and a regular op-ed contributor to major newspapers in Canada and the United States. He authored a study on Canadian and US immigration issues for the noted Canadian policy think-tank the CD HOWE Institute as part of its series on North American Relations (The Border Papers).

Peter has served in many capacities on the Immigration and Citizenship section of the Ontario Bar Association’s Immigration Section. He is a member of the Canadian Immigration Policy Research Council, a group providing policy input to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

In this episode Peter and I discussed the following topics:

• who is covered by the self employed category;
• how are athletes and artists able to qualify;
• what constitutes suitable experience;
• what amounts to significant contribution to Canada;
• how the point system works; and
• how to qualify as a farm manager.

[Tweet “How athletes and artists can immigrate to Canada.“]

Additional Resources:

• The best ways to reach Peter Rekai:
  • E-mail: peter@mobilitylaw.com
  • Phone: 416 960 8876
• Peter’s firm Rekai LLP: http://www.mobilitylaw.com/
• Self Employed PR Category: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/self-employed/index.asp

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Becoming a permanent resident of Canada has never been more difficult. Knowing how to keep that residency in changing life circumstances can be just as important….in fact, possibly even more important! In this episode I caught up with immigration lawyer Chantal Desloges who practices in Toronto, Ontario to share some insight on this increasingly important area of immigration law. If you are a permanent resident of Canada wondering if you have done enough to maintain your PR status, this episode is for you.

If you go to virtually any of the online newspaper or television websites in Ontario and search immigration lawyer, you are almost certain to find Chantal Desloges. She is a regular immigration commentator on CTVs Power Play, and has been interviewed and quoted in both national and local television and newspapers on a variety of Canadian immigration related topics. Chantal has also been a regular organizer and participant in community education programs by giving speeches, lectures and training seminars to not only the community at large, but to other immigration practitioners as well.

Chantal is certified as a Specialist in both Immigration and Refugee Law with the Law Society of Upper Canada and practices out of her own firm Desloges Law Group in Toronto, Ontario.

If you are a permanent resident of Canada and are concerned that you may not have met the residency obligations to keep this status, this Podcast is going to be invaluable to you. I can guarantee that you are not going to get this level of insight and detail on maintaining Canadian permanent resident status anywhere else. And if you can find it somewhere else, you are definitely paying for it.

In this episode Chantal and I discussed the following topics:

• the difference between permanent resident status and the permanent resident card;
• calculation of the 5 year residency period;
• physical presence exceptions (accompanying spouse and working abroad);
• how to return to Canada with an expired or missing PR card;
• when a residency determination is triggered;
• what to do if written up for breach of residency obligation; and
• how to relinquish PR if necessary.

[Tweet “If you are a Canadian PR and concerned about losing your status, listen in.“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Chantal Desloges: 647-776-7511
• Chantal’s firm Desloges Law Group: http://chantaldesloges.ca/
• Understanding Canadian Permanent Resident Status: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/about-pr.asp

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Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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If you are a foreign national seeking to immigrate to Canada through an investor program, you better listen to what immigration lawyer Carter Hoppe has to say first. Carter demystifies a fairly confusing area of immigration law that many of us immigration lawyers shy away from. After listening to this Podcast, you may just want to consider getting into the immigrant investor world….and when I say “world”, I mean it…..Carter talks just as much about opportunities in the world as he does in Canada.

I was absolutely delighted that Carter Hoppe was able to join me in this Episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast. Carter is one of the grandfathers of the practice of immigration law in Canada and one of the founding members of the national immigration section of the Canadian Bar Association.

The thing I like most about Carter is his story telling ability. You don’t even realize how much you are learning from him because he carries you away with the intriguing “real life” examples he gives to illustrate his point.

Carter has been certified as a Specialist in Canadian Immigration Law with the Law Society of Upper Canada since 1993 and has been practicing out of his office in Dubai, UAE since 1994.  He is ideally situated to share in depth knowledge on all facets of immigrant investor programs. In fact, to all of you who feel that immigrant investor programs are evil, you really need to listen to what Carter has to say regarding the tremendous benefits of these programs to Canada as a whole. 

In this episode Carter and I discussed the following areas:

1. What is the difference between entrepreneur and investor programs?
2. Why did the Federal government pull away from immigrant investor programs?
3. What are the benefits of programs that select immigrants based on financial capital?
4. What are some of the best strategies for high net worth individuals who want to immigrate to Canada… or another country for that matter?
5. Why should Canada bring back immigrant investor programs?
6. Which Provinces have programs available for investors and entrepreneurs?

[Tweet “If you are rich and want to immigrate to Canada, here’s how.“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Carter Hoppe: carter@carterhoppe.com
• Carter’s firm Carter Hoppe Legal Consultants: http://www.carterhoppe.com/
• Canada’s Immigrant Investor and Entrepreneur Programs – Closed:  http://www.cic.gc.ca/englisH/immigrate/business/investors/index.asp

Congratulations to our New Canadian Immigration Minister

• New Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, Video: “From Refugee to Rookie MP”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhN0_w288Uk
• Swearing in Ceremony, Minister Ahmed Hussen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK6LwzxplUI

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

What do I do when my Canadian immigration application has been refused? This is the question I get more than any other as an immigration lawyer. Well, after much contemplation, I decided I would answer this question once and for all by inviting one of the most well respected immigration lawyers in Canada, Richard Kurland, to join me on this Episode.

Whether you are a Canadian immigration lawyer, consultant or foreign national, this episode will reveal to you some of the best options available for challenging an immigration refusal….and a few unique suggestions offered by Richard Kurland that you likely never even considered.

As a kick off to Season 2 of the Canadian Immigration Podcast I pulled out all the stops to get one of the most well respected and skilled immigration lawyers in Canada to join me as we tackle the painful issue of how best to deal with the refusal of a Canadian immigration application.
Richard is one of the foremost immigration policy analysts, lawyers and a go to resource for media, government, and pretty much all of us when it comes to Canadian immigration law.

As one of the highest ranking Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requesters, he is most often recognized for his efforts in “keeping Ottawa honest.” As the Editor-in-Chief of Lexbase, a monthly publication providing current immigration policy and practice information, he has made a business out of ensuring transparency within the immigration department. If you have not yet subscribed to his monthly Lexbase publications, you should not be practicing immigration law!

In this Episode, rather than focusing on immigration at a 10,000 foot level, Richard flipped the focus upside down and took the time to share some unbelievably valuable insight on how to deal with the sometimes devastating effects of a visa refusal.

In our interview, Richard covered the following strategies:

1. Start with a consultation with an immigration lawyer to discuss what may have been missing from the original application.
2. Consider refiling or requesting reconsideration of the original application.
3. Seek help from the local Member of Parliament of Senator.
4. Don’t overlook the importance of a Judicial Review in Federal Court.
5. If in Canada, can you restore status?
6. Go to the media!

[Tweet “What to do when your Canadian visa application is rejected“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Richard Kurland: lexbase@canimmigrate.com
• Richard’s firm Kurland Tobe: http://www.canimmigrate.com/
• How to subscribe to Lexbase: http://www.canimmigrate.com/index.php?p=1_8_Lexbase
• My most popular blog post: “What to do when your Canadian Visa Application is Rejected“
• Excerpt from Richard’s appearance before the House Standing Committee on Immigration December 13, 2016

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Read the Transcript

You can read additional notes for this episode, [spoiler]

CIP Show Notes: Season 2 – Episode 1

Richard Kurland – Policy Analyst and Lawyer

Today I am here with Canadian immigration lawyer Richard Kurland who will be addressing one of the most common enquiries I get on a daily basis, and likely many other immigration lawyers as well

“What to do when you Canadian Immigration Application is refused.”

Welcome to the Podcast Richard.

Introduction of Richard.

Question: How did you get into Immigration?

Today we are going to discuss the options that are available to someone who has had their Canadian immigration application refused.

Question: you have a client who comes into your office and tells you that their immigration application has been refused? Can you share with us the steps you follow to find a solution for these individuals.

1. Consult

2. Reconsideration

3. Re-apply

4. Federal Court… worth it or not?

5. MP

6. Media

How Can you be reached if people who would like to retain you to help them with any immigration matter?

Richard’s contact: lexbase@canimmigrate.com 

Thank you so much for joining us.

[/spoiler]

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Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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If you are a foreign national planning on immigrating to the Province of Saskatchewan or a human resource manager seeking a way to retain your key Saskatechawan based foreign workers… this Episode is for you.

Canadian immigration lawyer Scott Bell shares some amazing insight on the inner workings of the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program from an employer perspective and also touches on some of the unique Provincial regulations that impact on an employer’s ability to recruit foreign workers to work in Saskatchewan.

The various PNPs across the country offer some very unique and focused opportunities for foreign nationals seeking to immigrate to Canada. In most cases these PNPs have very unique requirements that distinguish themselves from the other PNPs. When trying to understand the inner workings of the various PNPs, the best place to go is excellent immigration lawyers like Scott Bell who actually live and practice within the Province of that Provincial Nominee Program.

In this Episode of the Podcast, Scott shares some great insight on the program, its history, and some of the best programs available for foreign workers seeking to immigrate to the Province of Saskatchewan. The information he provides is extremely valuable in helping to demystify some of the more idiosyncratic aspects of the SINP.

By listening to what Scott has to say in this Podcast, you will most definitely avoid some of the significant pitfalls people commonly run into when apply to immigrate to Canada through the SINP. One thing is for certain…although the process seems easy and the government goes out of their way to tell everyone they do not need to hire an immigration lawyer, engaging someone like Scott to help you navigate the SINP is money well spent.

In our interview, Scott and I covered the following topics:

1. background on Scott and how he got into immigration;
2. background information on the SINP;
3. programs ideally suited for companies wishing to retain key TFWs in Saskatchewan;
4. the impact of the Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act in the hiring process;
5. new attractive options for international students seeking immigration through the SINP;
6. Scott’s list of common Do’s and Don’ts when filing a SINP application; and
7. How Scott can be reached.

[Tweet “SPECIAL PNP SERIES – Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Scott Bell: sbell@mlt.com
• Scott’s firm MLT: http://www.mlt.com/
• Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act: http://bit.ly/2gxeNSq
• Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program: http://bit.ly/2haRrm5

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You can read additional notes for this episode, [spoiler]

CIP S1 E17: Interview with Scott Bell – Show Notes

Welcome to Scott Bell and background information on his practice.

Q: How did you get into Immigration Law?

With the recent changes to Express Entry, many employers are turning once again to the various Provincial Nominee Programs across the country to assist in their efforts to retain foreign workers that are key employees.

I invited Scott Bell to join me today to talk about the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program.

Before our call I went to the SINP website, but the site is actually down. There must be a lot of people interested in exploring the SINP as an option for immigration.

Q: Can you tell us a little about the program generally and why it might be a good place to start for employers looking for ways to retain key staff in the Province of Saskatchewan?

Q: I understand that the SINP requires all employers to register if they are bringing foreign workers into Saskatchewan.  Can you talk a little bit about this?

Answer: Foreign Worker Recruitment and Immigration Services Act? Outside employer without a base – difficult for new employers. Manitoba Act – LMIA exempt don’t need registration, in SINP there is a double exempt LMIA exempt

Q: What specific programs are available and likely the most beneficial for employers wanting to support their TFWs?

Q: I understand the Province is making a big push to attract international graduates from other Provinces. Can you tell us a little about this?

Q: Can you provide us with your Top 3 Do’s and Don’ts when it comes to seeking nominations through the SINP?

• Employer Registration has to be done first – before recruitment
• Going down the PR when not intend to live the SINP (economic establishment)
• Undertaking to adhere to STS conditions – restricted labour mobility. – compliance.
• Failure in compliance with Provincial Rule can save issues with Federal applications – affect outside of Province Federally as well.

Q: How can people reach you?

[/spoiler]

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Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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If you are getting ready to file a Humanitarian and Compassionate application STOP! ……..DO NOT SUBMIT THE APPLICATION! Before you do … listen to what Immigration Lawyer Jean Munn shared with me in this fantastic episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast. I had a ton of respect for Jean before our interview; however, after listening to the amazing insight and strategies Jean so openly shared with me, that respect has skyrocketed into the stratosphere.

If there is one episode you absolutely can not afford to miss, it is this one. Every lawyer, consultant, or foreign national will increase their chance of getting an H&C approved by listening and applying what Jean shared with me in this episode.

This was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have ever had interviewing a guest for the podcast. It just blows me away how much helpful information and useful content Jean provided. The information she shared would be easily classified as “trade secret” insights that lawyers just don’t share….yet she did….and so freely and openly. It is easy to see why Jean has been recognized in Alberta for her outstanding service to the profession and her community with the designation of Queen’s Counsel.

Jean Munn practices immigration law with the law firm of Caron and Partners in Calgary, Alberta. She is fluent in Spanish. In fact, 50% of her case load comes from working with Spanish speaking clients. She is truly one of the leaders in our field and a wonderful advocate for disenfranchised foreign nationals who are on the verge of giving up hope that they will ever be able to realize their dream of remaining in Canada permanently.

Jean represents not only individuals, but a number of municipalities, corporations, non-profit agencies, boards, and community organizations. Jean has appeared before all levels of Court in Alberta and before the Federal Court of Canada, Federal court of Appeal, and the Immigration and Refugee Board. She is presently serving as a Member of the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

In this episode, Jean and I covered the following topics related to humanitarian and compassionate applications.

1. Background information on H&C applications.
2. Who is eligible and who is not eligible to apply – the typical scenario.
3. What factors are taken into consideration and what factors cannot be considered.
4. How to apply – including best practices.
5. How to make the strongest application possible.
6. Processing procedure.
7. A ton of other tips and strategies essential for getting an H&C approved.

[Tweet “Humanitarian and Compassionate applications – when all else fails!“]

Additional Resources:

• Jean Munn’s Contact Information: http://www.caronpartners.com/d-jean-munn/
  • e-mail: jmunn@caronpartners.com
• Jean’s List of Highly Recommended Psychologists in Calgary:
  • Dr. Beverley Frizzell: bev.f@telus.net
  • Dr. Hap Davis: hapdavis@gmail.com
  • Gabriela Valenzuela (for Best Interest of the Child): impactps@shaw.ca

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Have you ever wondered what happens when Canada wants to remove someone they think is a terrorist or a spy? How do they actually do this? Is there a formal process or do they simply book a flight, toss them on a plane and fly them back to their country of citizenship. Obviously it is not that simple! In my interview with Canadian immigration lawyer, Peter Edelmann, he shares some insight on this very complex area…the intersection of immigration, criminal and national security law in Canada.

S.34 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act sets out the basis upon which the government can find someone inadmissible to Canada on the grounds of security. Peter takes us through each of the various types of activities that can cause a person to be found inadmissible for national security concerns.

Peter is a regular presenter at conferences on various topics related to criminal and immigration law. He regularly appears before Parliamentary committees and before the Supreme Court of Canada on issues related to criminality and national security in the immigration context.

During my interview with Peter Edelmann, we covered the following topics:

• Peter’s background.
• How he got into immigration law.
• Introduction to inadmissibility on security grounds.
• Historical context of s.34 inadmissibility.
• What constitutes:
  • engaging in espionage;
  • subversion by force of any government;
  • engaging in terrorism;
  • being a danger to the security of Canada;
  • engaging in acts of violence that might endanger the lives of Canadians; and
  • being a member of an organization that engages in each of the above.
• How a security investigation is triggered.
• What to expect when your client faces these serious allegations.
• Numerous practical examples of how s.34 has been applied in Canada.
• Relief Provisions
• How to spot potential security issues early on what to do
• How people can reach Peter Edelmann.

[Tweet “How Canada removes terrorist, spies, and other dangerous people.“]

Additional Resources:

• Peter Edelmann’s Contact Information: https://edelmann.ca/ 
  • phone: 604-646-4684
  • e-mail: peter@edelmann.ca
  • twitter: @p_edelmann
• Peter’s Podcast “Borderlines”: https://borderlines.ca/
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (See S.34): http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/FullText.html#h-23

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

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Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

At times foreign nationals face injustices within the immigration system that simply cry out for redress. When all hope seems lost, courageous immigration lawyers, such as Shirish Chotalia, step in when no one else can. In this episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, Shirish shares some amazing stories and even better insight into the world of immigration advocacy….and even better yet, she has inspired me (and hopefully will inspire you as well) to consider taking on difficult immigration cases where the, at times, cruel nature of Canadian immigration law and policy rears its ugly head.

I think any immigration lawyer today would admit that the practice of immigration law has become increasingly difficult with each day that passes. Although discretion is built into the immigration act and regulations, the excercise of that discretion tends to be far more negative than positive in the context of immigration applications. I am seeing more and more clients come to my office with heart wrenching stories of having their applications denied for the slightest of error when a simple request from an officer to correct an unintended oversight could easily be made.  Errors such as these and other innocent mistakes can destroy someone’s chances of becoming a permanent resident in Canada.

In this episode, I had the opportunity to interview one of the truly special lawyers out there. Someone who has devoted her life to defending the vulnerable and championing the cause of people caught in the, sometimes, application of immigration law in Canada. Shirish Chotalia is one of those lawyers that has had a truly positive impact on the tapestry of immigration and human rights in Canada.

Shirish’s resume is full of cases and accolades too numerous to list. So rather than trying to summarize, I will simply tell you to read it yourself by clicking on this link: chotalia-resume-october-2016.

I consider it a distinct pleasure to have had the opportunity to become inspired by her. In fact, the thing that stuck out the most to me was her challenge to not be afraid of getting into the area just because you lack extensive experience. Some of her greatest experienced occurred when she was inexperienced and just starting out.

In our discussion, we covered the following topics:

1. background on Shirish and her extensive experience with immigration advocacy;
2. how Shirish got into immigration;
3. what immigration advocacy is all about;
4. why it’s important to challenge immigration decisions in deserving cases;
5. why immigration lawyers should do more pro bono immigration work.

[Tweet “Defending the Vulnerable – An immigration lawyer’s story!“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Shirish Chotalia: info@shirishchotalia.com
• Shirish’s Website: http://www.canadaimmigration-lawyer.com/ 
• Mexican Family Case: http://www.shirishchotalia.com/
• Shirish’s Resume: chotalia-resume-october-2016
• Some of Shirish’s work while involved with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal: http://bit.ly/2gdxFnn

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Express Entry is changing once again. As of November 19, 2016 many foreign nationals are going to be shouting for joy while many others are going to be crying in despair. Listen in to this Episode to understand how these changes are going to drastically change the landscape for anyone seeking to immigrate to Canada as a skilled worker. Special thanks to Canadian immigration lawyer  Tamara Mosher-Kuczer who joined me to demystify what is really going to be happening with Express Entry.

It is clear that international students and corporate executives are immediate winners with the recently announced changes to the Express Entry system. However, in this Episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, Tamara Mosher-Kuczer joins me to share even more insight on what people can expect with the changes to Express Entry that will become effective on November 19, 2016.

Tamara is an associate lawyer practicing with the law firm of Capelle Kane in Ottawa, Ontario. She is currently serving as the external relations coordinator for the Canadian Bar Association’s National Immigration Law Section.

Anyone seriously considering immigrating to Canada as a skilled worker, this Episode is for you.

In this episode, Tamara and I covered the following topics:

1. New definition of offer of arranged employment and new categories of workers who can now benefit from having a qualified offer of arranged employment for the purposes of express entry
2. No more 600 points for LMIA supported offer of arranged employed
3. New point structure for offers of arranged employment depending on skill level
4. New point structure for those with an eligible Canadian Educational Credential
5. What these changes will mean in terms of the number of points required to be selected
6. What these changes will mean for International Students and Post-Graduate Work Permit holders
7. What these changes will mean for NAFTA Professionals, Intra-Company Transferees, and other foreign workers employed on certain LMIA exempt work permits

[Tweet “Demystifying the November 19th Changes to Express Entry“]

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Important Links Discussed in this Episode

• Capelle Kane Website:  http://www.capellekane.com/
• Tamara’s E-mail: tamara@capellekane.com
•  Tamara’s Twitter Account: @TTRRMK
• Tamara’s Express Entry Blog: http://bit.ly/2g4rMeZ

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

The US election is now over…..Donald Trump will be the next US President. Many US citizens are now exploring the possibility of moving to Canada. In this Special Episode dedicated to our friends in the United States – post election, Betsy Kane and I share with you some of the best options available to American citizens who are looking for options for moving to Canada on a temporary or permanent basis.

Don’t waste time searching the Canadian Immigration Website – we’ve done the heavy lifting for you.

Whether you are a celebrity in the US needing to act on your intention of moving away from the US if Donald Trump was elected President or an academic or professional simply wanting to find a place to park yourself for the next 4 years, this Episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast is for you.

I invited my good friend and colleague Betsy Kane, an immigration lawyer practicing in Ottawa, Ontario to join me as we share our list of the absolute best immigration options available to US Citizens who are considering a move to Canada.

If this is something you are seriously considering, this episode is an absolute must for you!

In this episode, Betsy and I covered the following options:

• Working in Canada:
  • NAFTA:
    • Professionals:
      • Academics
      • Marijuana Professionals (Yes we are serious) – FEATURED IN THE OTTAWA CITIZEN NEWSPAPER: http://bit.ly/2fYkPK6
      • IT Professionals
      • Engineers, architects, hotel managers etc.
    • Intra-company Transfers
    • Reciprocal Work Permits
    • Investors:
      • Dentists, Orthodontists, other business people
    • Advantages available to Mexican citizens
      • Visitor Visa being lifted in near future
      • Also benefit from all aspects of NAFTA
    • Francophone Work Permit program
• Studying in Canada:
  • Can work while going to school
  • Open work permit for up to 3 years after graduation
  • Pathway to permanent residence
• Permanent Resident Options:
  • Self Employed (perfect for actors, musicians and other artists)
  • Express Entry (perfect for skilled workers with high human capital)
  • Spousal Sponsorship (when your true love is Canadian)

[Tweet “US Citizens – Here’s how to move to Canada!“]

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Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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Have you or one of your foreign national or permanent resident client’s been charged or convicted of a criminal offence in Canada? If the answer is yes, you have to listen to this Episode. You will learn what to do when you are charged and how to deal with the negative consequences if convicted. Canadian immigration lawyer, Raj Sharma shares some critical insight on navigating this complex area of Canadian Immigration Law.

The consequences of committing a crime in Canada can be devastating for someone applying for permanent residence, and equally disastrous for people who are themselves already permanent residents of Canada. Like many immigration lawyers in Canada, this area of the law is something we really do not like to deal with. The immigration laws related to criminality can be downright cruel.
I had the opportunity to catch up with Canadian immigration lawyer Raj Sharma who practices with the law firm of Stewart Sharma Harsanyi in Calgary, Alberta.

Raj has been my go to lawyer when I have clients dealing with difficult admissibility issues in Alberta. He has represented a number of high profile clients and established himself as one of the top immigration lawyers in Alberta.

Raj took some time with me to explain a number of strategies that can be used in navigating the muddy waters of criminal inadmissibility. He also shares some great examples of how he dealt with a number of his most challenging cases.

During my interview with Raj Sharma, we covered the following topics:

• Raj Sharma’s background.
• How he got into immigration law.
• Introduction to criminal inadmissibility.
• What to do if a foreign national or PR is charged with a crime in Canada.
• Why we should not give up on our clients too soon.
• How to challenge the writing or referral of a s.44 Report.
• What happens after a s.44 Report is written.
• Practice tips for dealing with criminal inadmissibility
• How people can reach Raj Sharma.

[Tweet “Criminal Inadmissibility in Canada – Here’s what to do!“]

Additional Resources:

• Raj Sharma’s Contact Information:  http://www.sharmaharsanyi.com/about.html
  • e-mail: info@sshlaw.ca
  • phone: 403-705-3398
• Raj’s Law Firm – Stewart Sharma Harsanyi: http://www.sharmaharsanyi.com/
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (See S.36): http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-2.5/FullText.html#h-23

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

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Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

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If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Have you ever experienced a refusal on your LMIA application because your advertising did not meet the rigid content requirements set out on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program website? If so, you are not going to want to miss the recent interview I did with Canadian Immigration Lawyer, Robert Leong. Robert shared some great insight on his Federal Court case challenging an officer’s refusal of his client’s LMIA application because the business address was missing from one of the advertisements. We definitely need more decisions like this.

Many of us lawyers remember the good old days when obtaining a Labour Market Opinion (now Labour Market Impact Assessment) for a client was a relatively pleasant and straightforward exercise. After conducting recruitment efforts and not locating a qualified candidate, the LMO would be approved. In fact, Service Canada officers would actually work with employers to assist them in ensuring the forms were properly completed so the application could be approved as quickly as possible…….flash forward to today…….everything has changed!

In today’s LMIA world, employers are treated like the enemy by Temporary Foreign Worker Program officers who now look for any reason possible to refuse an application……including failing to include a business address in an advertisement. Despite the significant cost and time associated with challenging these ridiculous refusals, some employers have finally said: “Enough is enough!” and took the matter to Federal Court to have the officer’s decision reviewed by a judge. In the vast majority of cases, when these types of Judicial Reviews are launched, things get settled pretty quickly by the government lawyers. However, in some rare occasions, employers and their legal counsel see things through to the end and we get amazing decisions that help the rest of us as we fight our own battles with ESDC and their delivery arm “Service Canada”.

In this Episode, Robert Leong shares his experience arguing his case: Canadian Reformed Church of Cloverdale B.C. v. The Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada (2015 FC 1075).

During my interview with Robert Leong, we covered the following topics:

• Robert Leong’s background.
• How he got into immigration law.
• Introduction into the LMIA regime.
• ESDC’s minimum advertising requirements.
• Insight on the Canadian Reformed Church of Cloverdale BC decision.
• Tips and strategies for navigating the advertising requirements of Service Canada
• How people can reach Robert.

[Tweet “Are LMIA refusal’s getting you down? This might help!“]

Additional Resources:

• Robert Leong’s bio: 2016-01-25-rl-bio-1
• Robert’s Law Firm – Lowe & Company: http://www.canadavisalaw.com/
• Robert’s case – CRC of Cloverdale BC decision [2015 FC 1075]: http://bit.ly/2dp71VV

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Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Have you heard about the 2004 Tsunami in Indonesia that killed over 228,000 people? Of course you have. I don’t think there is a person on the planet that does not remember the most devastating tsunami to ever be recorded in history. The shear magnitude of loss, in life and property, compelled the world to come together to aide the millions of people affected by this catastrophic event. The Red Cross in Canada and many other countries, was instrumental in mobilizing international relief efforts to help those directly affected by the Tsunami.

Feature length films such as “The Impossible” and documentaries such as PBS NOVA’s broadcast, the Wave that Shook the World help to remind us of the effects the tsunami had on the countries and people physically present when the natural disaster occurred.  However, there is one story that many of us have not heard. This story is about the abuses suffered by labourer’s brought in to assist with the reconstruction efforts undertaken by unscrupulous companies contracted by the Red Cross to undertake the rebuild.  In this Special Episode I interviewed award winning journalist Virgil Grandfield who shares his first hand experience working on the ground for the Red Cross immediately after the Tsunami struck.

Many of you are probably wondering what this story has to do with Canadian immigration and why I chose to dedicate an entire Episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast to this topic. The reason is fairly simple. It all comes down to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the similarities I saw between the contractors taking advantage of vulnerable labourers in Indonesia with what has occurred, and to some extent continues to occur, with the treatment of our low-skill Temporary Foreign Workers here in Canada.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that all low-skill TFWs in Canada are being treated like slave labour. That is definitely not the case. However, as I indicated in my 4 Part blog series on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the manner in which we administer our TFWP creates a tremendous power imbalance between employers and TFWs. It is this type of power imbalance that resulted in slave labour trafficking in Indonesia and also results in many low-skill TFWs in Canada putting up with working conditions no Canadian would ever tolerate.

So…..regardless of whether or not you agree with me, my interview with Virgil Grandfield is going to get you thinking. He took the time to share a fascinating and somewhat heart wrenching tale of the abuses he saw during the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

And I also think this Episode is pretty well timed given the upcoming changes to the TFWP that will likely be announced in November, just a little over a month after the release of this Episode.

During my interview with Virgil Grandfield, we covered the following topics:

• Virgil Grandfield’s background.
• How he got into journalism.
• Background on the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.
• Virgil’s involvement with the Red Cross after the tsunami.
• The labour trafficking scandal in Indonesia during the Red Cross rebuild.
• Stories about the families affected by the scandal and documented in Virgil’s article, “The Cage”.
• Some of the other projects Virgil is working on.
• How people can reach Virgil.

[Tweet “Labour trafficking by Red Cross Tsunami contractors – the “Cage“]

Apocalyptic dramatic background – giant tsunami waves, dark stormy sky

Additional Resources:

• About Virgil Grandfield: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgil_Grandfield
• “The Cage” Article (NOTE: Title renamed by Eigthteen Bridges to ‘Are You Ready to Die Today?’): (http://eighteenbridges.com/story/are-you-ready-to-die-today-what-really-happened-in-post-tsunami-indonesia/ 

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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Read the Transcript

You can read additional notes for this episode, [spoiler]

S1 E30 – Virgil Grandfield – Slave Labour Trafficking by Red Cross Tsunami Contractors in Indonesia | Show Notes

I invited Virgil Grandfield to join me today to talk about an article he wrote about slave labour trafficking by Red Cross Tsunami Contractors in Indonesia following the reconstruction efforts following the Tsunami of 2004 that killed approximately 228,000 people.

Virgil’s article “The Cage” published by Eighteen Bridges, an Alberta literary magazine, as “Are you ready to die?” was recently awarded a gold medal for investigative journalism by the National Magazine Awards Foundation.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

How did you get into journalism?

Remind our listeners about the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.

Tell us about your involvement with the Red Cross effort after the Tsunami

Share some background on the labour trafficking scandal

Talk a little bit about the families affected by the scandal and your article, “The Cage” which received the journalism award.

Tell us about some of your other projects that we should watch out for:

• Full-length book on the scandal
• CBC Television Documentary

Thanks for joining us…what is the best way of reaching you if people would like to learn more?

[/spoiler]

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

After viewing the shocking photos of the little Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach in the fall of 2015, the global plight of refugees was brought to the forefront of public consciousness.  Since that time, many people have expressed a sincere interest in knowing exactly how to Privately Sponsor a Refugee to come to Canada. In this episode, I had the opportunity to catch up with Ronalee Carey, an Immigration Lawyer practicing in Ottawa, who was able to share some unique insight into this process. She definitely inspired me to become more involved.

Ronalee’s practice focuses on finding immigration solutions for individuals and families through family sponsorships,  the Express Entry program and provincial nomination programs.  She assists with visa applications to visit, study or work in Canada, and helps those with criminal inadmissibility issues.

In addition to her private practice, Ronalee is also a Refugee lawyer. She is part of a group in Ottawa that provides pro bono services regarding the Private Sponsorship  of Refugees. When I learned of her involvement with Refugee work, I thought it would be a great topic for our Canadian Immigration Podcast.

If you are someone who is interested in knowing how the process works, this episode will point you in the right direction.

After listening to Ronalee explain the refugee sponsorship process in great detail, I came to the realization that this is something that any of us could consider doing in our own communities. Her passion for this area and sincere desire to help those less fortunate than us in Canada, really struck a cord with me. It was an absolute pleasure having her on the Podcast.

During my interview with Ronalee, we discussed the following areas:

• How Ronalee got into the immigration field.
• Her involvement in Private Refugee Sponsorship Work.
• What is the University of Ottawa’s Refugee Sponsorship Support Program?
• How did she get matched to the G30+ Ottawa constituent group?
• How does the group go about finding refugees to sponsor and their experiences in settling the refugees who have arrived in Canada.
• Discussion on the Government of Canada partnering with Canadians to jointly assist refugees through the Blended Visa-Office Referred (BVOR) program.
• How has the government has handled the sponsorship of refugees so far and what the future holds for the private sponsorship of refugees in Canada.
• How to go about sponsoring a refugee from Syria or elsewhere.

[Tweet “Private Sponsorship of Refugees – How the process works“]

Time Stamped Quick Reference Guide

In order to help you jump to the areas of most interest to you, I have included below some time stamps for some of the significant topics covered in this episode.

02:15 – Who is Ronalee Carey?

04:00 – How she got into the immigration field?

06:55 – How did she get involved in private refugee sponsorship work?

07:34 – How the process works when Privately Sponsoring Refugees to Canada.

08:03 – Who screens the Refugee before they come to Canada?

09:25 – What is the uOttawa Refugee Sponsorship Support Program (RSSP)?

18:29 – How did Ronalee get matched to the G30+ Ottawa constituent group?

18:59 – How did the group link up with the Anglican Diocese?

21:45 – How did the group go about finding refugees to sponsor?

23:40 – Who has the group sponsored so far?

28:45 – What are the qualifications to become a Sponsor and the obligations towards the Blended Visa-Office Referred (BVOR) candidates that are selected?

32:00 – How has the private sponsorship process worked out for her group?

34:00 – How is the government handling the sponsorship of refugees, now that the initial election promise to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees has been fulfilled?

35:48 – Is there still a strong interest from the Canadian public to sponsor refugees? How has the government responded to the significant interest generated in the private refugee sponsorship programs?

41:07 – If someone was interested in sponsoring a refugee, from Syria or elsewhere, how would they go about it?

45:38 – How to contact Ronalee Carey.

Additional Resources:

• Ronalee Carey Law: http://www.ronaleecareylaw.ca/
• Ronalee’s e-mail: rcarey@ronaleecareylaw.ca
• Ronalee’s Linkedin page: https://ph.linkedin.com/in/ronalee-carey-0119593a
• uOttawa Refugee Sponsorship Support Program (RSSP): http://refugeessp.ca/home/
• Ottawa 613: http://www.refugee613.ca/
• Government of Canada website – how to sponsor a refugee: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/sponsor/index.asp

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Read the Transcript

You can read additional notes for this episode, [spoiler]

S1 E29 – Ronalee Carey – Private Sponsorship of Refugees | Show Notes

Bio – Ronalee Carey is an immigration and refugee lawyer who practices in the beautiful capital of Canada – Ottawa, Ontario. Her practice focuses on finding immigration solutions for individuals and families through family sponsorships, the Express Entry program and provincial nomination programs. She assists with visa applications to visit, study or work in Canada, and helps those with criminal inadmissibility issues.

Part of Ronalee’s practice includes refugee work. She assists individuals who have arrived in Canada who wish to claim refugee status. She also provides pro bono assistance to a group in Ottawa who are privately sponsoring refugees from abroad.

Question: How did you find yourself in the immigration field? Since I was a young child, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, but immigration law was never something I’d thought about. I grew up in a small town in northern Ontario were we had a total of 7 racialized individuals in the entire town, one of whom was my fifth grade teacher. When I went to law school, I focused on criminal and family law. I articled at a general practice firm, and after my call to the bar, practiced mostly family law.

My life then took a huge turn. My husband and I had been foster parents for the Ottawa Children’s Aid Society for several years, and we had the opportunity to adopt a beautiful baby girl through the society. She was mixed race, with an East Indian birth mother and a birth father of African descent. We later adopted two additional children, both of Haitian descent. I took an extended leave from my career during this time.

When I was ready to return to the practice of law, I wanted to start back part-time. I ran into a former classmate at a Law Society event, who had an opening for a legal researcher/law clerk with part-time hours. Her field happened to be immigration law. When I started working in immigration law, I was immediately hooked. I was able to meet people from all over the world, and every matter provided a new and interesting challenge to solve. I loved how political immigration law was; I could read an article in my morning newspaper that would affect how I would handle a client file that day.

In 2012 the lawyer I had been working for moved from Ottawa in order to be closer to her aging parents. She left me a few files, and I ‘hung up a shingle’. Recently, I had to hire a junior lawyer to assist me with files.

Question: How did you get involved in private refugee sponsorship work? Like many people in Canada, I was devastated at seeing the photo of Alan Kurdi’s body washed up on the shores of a beach in Turkey. In September, 2015, I received an email from the University of Ottawa’s Refugee Hub, which called for lawyers willing to volunteer with a new initiative designed to assist individuals and groups who wanted to sponsor Syrian refugees to come to Canada. I immediately signed on.

Question: What is the uOttawa Refugee Sponsorship Support Program (RSSP)? http://refugeessp.ca/home/

From that initial email, grass roots organization continued, and volunteers in Ottawa put together the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program. The goal was to match volunteer lawyers with groups and individuals who wanted to sponsor Syrian refugees. Not all the lawyers were immigration and refugee lawyers – in fact the majority were not. As such, training had to be provided. Even for me, the procedures were new – though I’d assisted with inland claims for refugee protection, the overseas process was new to me as it was to many private immigration lawyers.

We met in a room at City Hall for the training. A generous lawyer from our local bar bought pizza for the hundred or so attendees.

Our next step was to reach out to the community, to let them know our services were available. The City of Ottawa was planning a community information night, to let interested sponsors know about the process and to allow local immigrant service agencies provide information on their services. Another grassroots organization called Refugee 613 had emerged, to connect people in Ottawa who wanted to donate money, volunteer or sponsors refugees with others. Refugee 613 was a big presence at the event.

The event was overwhelmingly successful. Hundreds and hundreds of people from Ottawa showed up to the event. The information session itself was supposed to be held in the municipal council chambers, but it filled to overcapacity and the speakers had to be broadcast into the atrium for those who couldn’t get into the room. Even the atrium was overflowing.

The uOttawa RRSP had set up a free legal clinic, so that potential sponsors who speak to a lawyer at the event about the procedures for sponsoring. We gave legal advice to over 400 people that night.

Question: How did you get matched to the G30+ Ottawa constituent group?

The goal of that first evening, at Ottawa City Hall, was to provide initial legal advice to as many people as possible who wanted to sponsor Syrian refugees. Later, the goal was to match those individuals or groups who wanted to proceed with a lawyer willing to help them through the process.

At the legal clinic, the first group of people I gave advice to was another lawyer who worked for the Federal government. She and two friends had both committed to finding 10 people each, all willing to donate $1,000. The money raised by these 30 people would allow them to sponsor a family from Syria.

I requested to be ‘matched’ to this group, so that I could be the pro bono lawyer for the group and help them with the sponsorship process. In addition, my husband and I requested to become members of the group of 30, and made a personal financial contribution. As such, I am not only the pro bono lawyer for the group, but also a group member.

Question: How did this group of 3 turn into the G30+ constituent group?

The three initial group members intended to do a Group of 5 (G5) sponsorship. This is a special program where 5 individuals agree to provide financial and settlement support to an individual or family. The plan was to find two other people who could join them in the Group of 5, as official sponsors, and the other individuals would provide a supporting role and assist in the financial aspect.

The core three members were overwhelmingly successful in their efforts to find others willing to join them in sponsoring a Syrian family. They quickly found more than 30 people willing to help, which is why the name had to become the G30+. Their fundraising efforts were also much more successful than they’d originally hoped for. Our initial meeting of the group saw funds pledged in excess of $70,000. This meant the group could sponsor more than one family.

Question: How did the group link up with the Anglican Diocese?

Because the group had become so large, and had raised so much money, a Group of 5 sponsorship wasn’t really appropriate anymore. We needed a larger focus. In Canada, the government has partnered with groups called Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAH), who are pre-approved to sponsor refugees. Many of these SAHs are religious groups. In Ottawa, the Anglican Diocese has a great deal of experience with refugee sponsorships. They agreed to take on the G30+ Ottawa group as a constituent group under their organization. This meant that funds raised could be channelled through the Diocese’s charitable structure, which allowed members to receive tax receipts for their contributions. We also were able to tap into the Diocese’s wealth of experience in making applications to sponsor refugees.

Question: How did the group go about finding refugees to sponsor?

The group had a very unusual problem. We had lots of money, lots of volunteers including Arabic speakers, and no one to sponsor. No one from our group was Syrian, so there were no family members we could help. At the time, neither the Canadian government, Refugee 613, nor the uOttawa RSSP was able to match potential sponsors with either family members in Canada or directly with refugees overseas.

So, we had to look abroad ourselves. One of our group members had connections to a group of women who were Nobel laureates. This group directed her to a journalist working in a Syrian refugee camp in the Zaatari, Jordan. She further spoke to a translator she worked with, to ask him if he could identify anyone who the group could sponsor to come to Canada. The translators’ brother was interested. Prior to the war he’d studied business in university, and he was desperate to get to Canada. He would act as an ‘anchor relative’, to later assist his parents, and his siblings and their families to come to Canada. The translator also identified a family who needed our help. Both parents had worked in leadership roles in the camp, the father as a team leader and the mother as part of a health committee. They had six children ranging in age from six months to 17. We agreed to take on both the single individual and this family of 8.

Working through the translator, we have completed the sponsorship applications for these 9 individuals. We have provided the applications to the Anglican Diocese, who is preparing them to submit to the government. However, they have to wait until the government opens up spaces in the queue.

Question: Who has the group sponsored so far?

While efforts were underway to sponsor these 9 individuals, another opportunity presented itself.

The government of Canada, in addition to directly sponsoring individuals through the Government Assisted Refugee (GAR) program, partners with Canadians to jointly assist refugees through the Blended Visa-Office Referred (BVOR). In this program, refugees who have been identified by the UNHCR are referred by Canadian visa offices oversees. The government puts these individuals and families onto a list, and SAHs are able to offer to sponsor the individuals. The government provides for 50% of the financial cost of the sponsorship, and the SAH (or their constituent group) provides the remainder of the funds. From a pro bono lawyer’s perspective, this type of sponsorship is great because the refugees have already been pre-approved – there is no need for us to complete the forms needed for the refugees, and we do not have to have any of their documents translated. All we do is submit an undertaking to provide for the family and a settlement plan stating how we will provide for the family’s needs when they arrive in Canada.

For sponsorship groups, getting a BVOR family is like winning the lottery. The list of eligible families is sent out by the government. Only a bit of information is provided – names, ages, occupations, where they’d like to live in Canada. Sponsors have only a few minutes to choose a family and respond – there is so much interest that any hesitation means all the refugees will be claimed by sponsoring groups.

The G30+ Ottawa group was fortunate to be matched with a family of 4 from Syria, parents and two young children. This family arrived in Canada this past February.

In addition, we were contacted by the Anglican Diocese to sponsor a woman whose son was already in Ottawa as a refugee. Though the woman is Iranian, not Syrian, the group agreed to sponsor her. We are hoping she will arrive shortly.

Question: What have their experiences been to date, in settling the individuals who have arrived in Canada?

We are blessed with many capable volunteers. An affordable apartment was found for them; it was furnished mostly by donations. After they arrived, they were set up in school and language classes, and things like health cards were applied for. For the summer, day camps were found for the children. We’ve had a potluck dinner to welcome them. It has been a wind whirl of activity.

Because the family did not speak English when they arrived, a lot of the work fell onto the Arabic speaking members.

Question: How is the government handling the sponsorship of refugees, now that the initial election promise to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees has been fulfilled?

The government reached its target of 25,000 Syrian refugees in February, 2016. This 25,000 was made up of both government and privately sponsored refugees, including our family of 4. However, they also promised to bring in a total 25,000 government assisted refugees by the end of 2016. They appear on track to fulfil this commitment.

You may remember at our national immigration law conference in April, our immigration minister appeared for a luncheon address. He said that he was probably the only immigration minister in the world being criticized for his failure not to provide enough refugees for those interested in sponsoring. However, he stated that the government’s target of a maximum 300,000 immigrants for 2016 was firm, and that he would not be increasing that number in order to accommodate more refugees.

Question: Is there still a strong interest from the Canadian public to sponsor refugees? How is the government responded to the interest in the private refugee sponsorship program?

I spoke to Don Smith, from the Archdiocese of Ottawa about the problem of there being more interest from the Canadian public to sponsor than our government is willing to provide capacity for. He told me he was torn over the issue. He said on the one hand, we don’t want to allow our government to back away from the UNHRC and the international community by failing to take in its share of refugees. On the other hand, there are so many people who have family they want to sponsor, and other individuals who want to help settle refugees in Canada, that restructuring the way refugees spaces are allocated might be the only short-term solution. That means less government assisted refugees, and more BVOR spaces along with priority processing to G5 and other privately sponsored refugee programs.

And the evidence seems to be mounting that privately sponsored refugees do better than government assisted refugees. Our own refugee family is a case in point. They arrived in Canada to a 30+ new friends, willing and able to help them with anything they could possibly need. Shortly after our family arrived, the parents of the father of our family (the children’s grandparents) arrived as government sponsored refugees. Though our group has provided some settlement assistance to them as well, they don’t understand why they don’t have their own group to help them.

Question: If someone was interested in sponsoring a refugee, from Syria or elsewhere, how would they go about it?

A minimum group of 5 individuals is necessary in order to be able to sponsor. Partnering with a SAH is not necessary, but provides numerous benefits. There are also community sponsorship programs, and a program for people willing to sponsor refugees with high needs, such as those with medical conditions or who have experienced severe trauma.

But individuals and groups need to temper their expectations. I attended a session where Louisa Taylor of Refugee 613 spoke. She made the very poignant comment that ‘refugees are not pets’. These are individuals with their own personalities and temperaments, who may or may not want to accept the friendship and help you are offering when they arrive in Canada. We think that when refugees arrive in Canada, they will jump at every opportunity to learn English, find a job, and integrate into the community. But what if they are so exhausted by their ordeal they have been through that they only want to watch Arabic television? And what if the group wants to sponsor, has the funds, but there are no spaces left in the government programs? Some people will need to find another way to channel their goodwill.

[/spoiler]

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Why is it so dang hard to challenge an officer’s decision when a Canadian visa application is rejected? This is the question I get more often than any other question from listeners. In this episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I invited Canadian immigration lawyer Steven Meurrens to join me to try to unravel this complex question.  As most immigration lawyers understand, much of the answer rests in the concept of “Standard of Review“, or in other words, the standard to which an immigration officer’s decision is to be held. If you have just experienced a rejection on a Canadian visa application, this Episode is a must.

In my interview with Steven, we examine a very interesting court case, MPSEP v. Tran  2015 FCA 237, that has quietly worked its way to the Supreme Court of Canada.  Tran is going to have some pretty huge ramifications for this whole area of judicially reviewing an officer’s decision. Steven shares some great insight on this case and provides a little glimpse into what he thinks the SCC could possible do. Once the decision comes out later next year, we will have to have him come back on the Podcast to see how close he really was.

Steven Meurrens is a Canadian immigration lawyer and a partner with the law firm of Larlee Rosenberg in Vancouver, British Columbia.  The firm focuses on all areas of Canadian immigration law.

Steven has significant experience representing corporate and individual clients in obtaining visas and permits for many business-related purposes.

In addition to his business immigration practice, Steven has extensive experience in family-based immigration matters and a very active practice assisting people who have been denied entry to Canada and to those who have had their visa applications refused. He has appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board and the Federal Court of Canada.

Steven is the Chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s Immigration Subsection in British Columbia. He is a published columnist, a regular panelist at immigration law conferences, and is the author of a very widely read blog on Canadian immigration law called Meurrens on Immigration. If you haven’t had a chance to read Steven’s blog, you had better go check it out. The content on this blog is exceptional. You will also need to check out his Immigration Podcast called Borderlines that he hosts with Peter Edelmann.

During my interview with Steven, we discussed the following areas:

• How he got into immigration.
• Steven’s blog called Meurrens on Immigration
• An introduction to Steven’s Podcast: Borderlines with Peter Edelmann in BC
• Reasons why it is so hard to challenge an officer’s decision
• Standard of Review
• Important Case Discussion: MPSEP v. Tran (2015 FCA 237)
• One of Steven’s Successful cases at the Federal Court: Gupta v. Canada (2015 FC 1086)

[Tweet “Visa rejected? How to challenge an officer’s decision?“]

Time Stamped Quick Reference Guide

In order to help you jump to the areas of most interest to you, I have included below some time stamps for some of the significant topics covered in this episode.

3:55 – Who is Steven Meurrens?

7:40 – Where does Steven Meurrens blog?

10:00 – How did he get into Immigration Law?

12:42 – Steven’s Blog: Meurrens On Immigration

21:22 –  Why is Officer discretion so important to the Standard of Review?

22:14 – Who are considered part of administrative tribunals responsible for enforcing or administering the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its Regulations?

25:10 – Reasonableness – why is this the standard of review for most immigration decisions in the Federal Court?

35:45 – What is the concept of standard of review?

38:00 – What does it mean for something to be procedurally fair?

41:38 – Discussion on the Federal Court of Appeal decision in Tran.

49:39 – Discussion on the case of Gupta v. Canada (2015 FC 1086)

59:45 – How to reach Steven Meurrens.

Additional Resources:

• Steven Meurrens Law Office: http://www.larlee.com/
• Steven’s LinkedIn Profile:  https://ca.linkedin.com/in/steven-meurrens-4a666a17 
• Steven’s Blog – “Meurrens on Immigration”: http://meurrensonimmigration.com/
• One of Steven’s Successful cases at the Federal Court: Gupta v. Canada (2015 FC 1086): http://bit.ly/2authy4

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Read the Transcript

You can read additional notes for this episode, [spoiler]

CIP S1 E28 | Steven Meurrens | Show Notes

Introduction:

Welcome to Steven Meurrens.

Well respected immigration lawyer practicing with the law firm of Larlee Rosenberg in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The firm focuses on all areas of Canadian immigration law. Advising local and multinational corporations on the movement of key employees, and individuals and families who dream of building a future in Canada.

Steven is a Partner in the firm with significant experience representing corporate and individual clients in obtaining visas and permits for many business-related purposes.

In addition to his business immigration practice, Steven has extensive experience in family-based immigration matters AND a very active practice assisting people who have been denied entry to Canada and to those whom have had visa applications refused. He has appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board and the Federal Court.

Steven is the Chair of the Canadian Bar Association of British Columbia’s Immigration Subsection. He is a published columnist, a regular panelist at immigration law conferences, and is the author of a very widely read blog on Canadian immigration law called Meurrens on Immigration which we will talk about in a little bit.

QUESTION: How did you get into immigration?

QUESTION: Can you tell us a little about your Blog?

I am also delighted to hear that you are also wading into the wonderful world of Podcasting.

QUESTION: Can you tell us a little bit about your Podcast?

Focus on the legal side of immigration and delve into the wonderful world of administrative law in the context of Canadian immigration applications.

If you recall, one of Steven’s specific focuses within his practice is assisting people who have been denied entry to Canada or to those who have had visa applications refused.

Challenging an officer’s decision is not always an easy thing. Sometimes, there are clear pathways with fairly well defined appeal mechanisms. However, in many cases, the only recourse is to seek redress through Federal Court.

When challenging an officer’s decision in Federal Court, administrative law principals are triggered. Today I have invited Steven to join me to help clear up, if possible this very confusion area of immigration law……..in essence this is really the core of what immigration “law” is all about.

Why is it so dang hard to challenge an officers decision?

1) The discretion that visa officers have when assessing applications, including:

• Immigration law is a subset of administrative law;
• Visa officers, port of entry officers, and even summer students are administrative tribunals;
• They have a wide range of discretion; and
• There is often not a right answer to a case. Rather, there is a range of possible answers.

2) Fettering discretion.

• That officers cannot fetter their discretion by relying on manuals as if they are law.
• The tension that this produces between courts who view visa officers essentially the same as they view the Immigration and Refugee Board vs. program officers who view themselves as implementing and administering departmental programs.

3) Standard of Review

• Questions of fact.
• Questions of law.
• My Gupta as an example.
• The Koo example of where there can be problems if officers have discretion in the interpretation of law.

4) Tran

• The FCA decision in Tran.
• A review of the problems with the Tran decision as identified by Paul Daly http://www.administrativelawmatters.com/blog/2015/11/13/a-snapshot-of-whats-wrong-with-canadian-administrative-law-mpsep-v-tran-2015-fca-237/
• Plug that Steven will be back on when Tran is released.

QUESTION: How can people reach you?

Thanks for being on the Podcast Steven.

Helpful Links:

• How you can reach Steven Meurrens: meurrens@larlee.com
• Larlee Rosenberg: http://www.larlee.com/
• Steven’s Blog – “Meurrens on Immigration”: http://meurrensonimmigration.com/
• Important Case Discussed in this Episode: MPSEP v. Tran (2015 FCA 237): http://bit.ly/2ajifyo
• One of Steven’s Successful cases at the Federal Court: Gupta v. Canada (2015 FC 1086): http://bit.ly/2authy4

[/spoiler]

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

When I first considered the topic of Canadian Passports, I thought it would be too boring…I was dead wrong. Canadian immigration lawyer, Les Morley brought life to a topic that most would feel uninteresting at best. He shared some unbelievable insights that you will not want to miss.

In this episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I spoke with Les Morley who is an immigration lawyer practicing in the fine metropolis of Kingston, Ontario.  I asked Les to join me on the Canadian Immigration Podcast after reading an amazing paper (Passports in Canada (final)) he wrote on Canadian passports for our National Immigration Law Conference held in Vancouver earlier this year.

Normally people would think that any discussion revolving around Canadian Passport issues would be extremely dry and really not worthy of a full Podcast. If you thought this, you would be wrong.

Les really nailed this one. The interview was awesome. You have to read the paper. It really should be published.

Les  took some time to share with me some unbelievable insight into the entire evolution of passports in Canada as well as the state of things currently and what the future holds as a result of a number of cases coming out of our courts that are transforming the entire area of passport law.

It was great to get to know Les a little more and learn about the fantastic work he is doing in Kingston. Anyone looking for assistance with any immigration related issue in that part of our fine country would be well served by giving Les a call.

During my interview with Les, we discuss the following areas:

• Life as an immigration lawyer in Kingston
• Historical overview of passports in Canada
• Recent passport cases coming out of the courts
• Proposed legislative changes to how passports are used and tracked

[Tweet “Who knew Canadian Passports could be so interesting“]

Time Stamped Quick Reference Guide

In order to help you jump to the areas of most interest to you, I have included below some time stamps for some of the significant topics covered in this episode.

3:33 – Who is Les Morley?

4:32 – What is the Refugee Assistance Program?

19:05 – How did Les get into the practice of Immigration Law?

25:45 – Historical overview and recent trends in the issuance of Canadian Passports.

30:30 – Is it possible to deny somebody a Passport?

36:43 – What does the world look like today with regard to passport denial?

46:08 – How to contact Les Morley.

Additional Resources:

• Les Morley Law Office: http://www.lesmorley.com/
• Les’ LinkedIn Profile:  http://bit.ly/2afgui3
• Les’ Passport Paper (This is awesome): Passports in Canada (final)
• Canada’s amazing passports: http://bit.ly/2adRbOn
• Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s Bill: “An Act to amend the Customs Act”: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ralph-goodale-canada-us-bill-1.3635990

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

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You can read additional notes for this episode, [spoiler]

CIP S1 E27 | Les Morley | Show Notes

Les is an immigration lawyer practicing in Kingston, Ontario. Since 1988, he has helped people from more than 100 countries immigrate to or remain in Canada. He has reunited families, guided students and workers through the process of obtaining papers, and represented everyday people who face admissibility challenges and barriers to citizenship.

Les is a part of a small group of people that applied for and obtained a Refugee Assistance Program facility in Kingston.  He is the only immigration lawyer in his one-horse town, and so he tends to get involved in a lot of the immigration-related projects in town. Similar to Lethbridge where I practice.

Also, this year he has hosted a few episode of a local cable show on COGECOTV (Kingston) called DiverseCity.  Here are links to a few of the episodes, in case there is any value in knowing about them:

• Fresh Start for Refugees

• Frontenac Refugee Support Group

• Kingston Grandmother Connection

Question: How did you get into Immigration?

Introduce topic. Les wrote a great paper on Passports for our past CBA National Conference.

Get e-mails from Federal Court as a list of links to the decisions and Les started seeing a trend related to the evolving area of passport law.

1. Historical evolution of Passports (4:15)
2. Cases that came out regarding Passports:
   1. People not being able to have a passport
   2. Shut down and couldn’t get passport
3. New development using passports going out of the country.
   1. New Bill introduced by Honourable Ralph Goodale

• The best way to reach Les Morley:
• Morley Law Office: http://www.lesmorley.com/
• Skype: http://bit.ly/2afgui3
• Les’ Passport Paper: Passports in Canada (final)
• Canada’s amazing passports: http://bit.ly/2adRbOn
• Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s Bill: “An Act to amend the Customs Act”: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ralph-goodale-canada-us-bill-1.3635990

[/spoiler]

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to practice Canadian immigration law? In this interview, Canadian immigration lawyer Will Tao shares his journey cutting his teeth as a young immigration lawyer in Canada. Whether you are a young lawyer trying to figure out your chosen area of practice, or an old timer looking to reinvent yourself, this Podcast may just be the catalyst you need to consider diving into the crazy world of Canadian immigration law.

In this episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I spoke with Will Tao who is a young immigration lawyer practicing with the law firm of Larlee Rosenberg in Vancouver,  British Columbia.  In most cases, I bring on industry leaders who share amazing insight on various aspects of the Canadian Immigration landscape. However, in this episode I decided to bring on Will who is one of the “up and coming” immigration lawyers in Canada, and definitely someone to watch out for in the future.

Will took some time to share with us some unbelievable insight into his experience breaking into the field of Canadian immigration law. He addressed some of the challenges a young lawyer may face as well as what it really takes to make it as a successful immigration lawyer.

Will writes an excellent blog on immigration entitled: the “Vancouver Immigration Blog” which is very quickly becoming a great resource for not only young aspiring immigration lawyers, but seasoned vets as well.

Will did a fantastic job on this interview. Keep an eye out for him in the future as he is sure to be one of the rising stars within the immigration bar in Canada.

During my interview with Will, we discuss the following areas:

• The road to becoming an immigration lawyer
• Why choose immigration law
• Challenges of being a young immigration lawyer
• The value of mentorship when starting out
• Where Will see’s his practice going in the future

[Tweet “Have you considered practicing Canadian immigration law?“]

Additional Resources:

• Will Tao’s e-mail address: Will.Tao@larlee.com
• Will’s bio:  http://www.larlee.com/lawyers/will-tao/
• Will’s firm – Larlee Rosenberg, Barristers and Solicitors: www.larlee.com
• Vancouver Immigration Blog: http://vancouverimmigrationblog.com/

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Read the Transcript

You can read additional notes for this episode, [spoiler]

CIP S1E26 – Will Tao – Life as a Young Immigration Lawyer

Will Tao Canadian Immigration Lawyer, practicing with the well respected law firm of Larlee Rosenberg in Vancouver, BC.

We are going to do things a little bit different this podcast.  The purpose behind this podcast is to inspire other young lawyers to consider the practice of immigration law.

In per conversations with Will, he told me about an experience he had speaking with a well-known Bay Street lawyer before he began searching for summer jobs and she pegged it at a 0% chance that he could do immigration before five years call.

Will Tao is an Associate at Larlee Rosenberg and provides legal services in all areas of Canadian immigration law.

Will specializes in complex immigration and citizenship refusals, reconsideration requests, appeals, admissibility hearings/detention reviews, and judicial reviews of administrative decisions. Will is frequently contacted by clients and their immigration representatives after their initial applications are refused or a request for further information has been received. Will has successfully assisted his clients on several challenging, high profile cases involving employers and individuals alike.

Will also has a strong international student and temporary foreign worker practice, where he advises students and temporary workers on the compliance issues and the crucial transition to permanent residence in Canada via Express Entry and Provincial Nomination Programs. Will also serves as a legal advisor and advocate to Canadian families looking to reunite via family sponsorship.

Overall, Will believes in a client-focused approach, one that allows the companies and individuals he works with to present their case to Canadian immigration authorities with the needed balance of honesty, simplicity, and creativity.

Prior to joining Larlee Rosenberg, Will studied International Relations and History at UBC (with a focus on migration history) before attending the University of Ottawa for law school. At the University of Ottawa, Will co-founded the University of Ottawa Business Law Clinic, Canada’s first bilingual, bijural pro-bono business law clinic. In his final year of law school, Will spent a semester abroad in Chongqing and achieved Dean’s Honour List in his final year.

Will is proficient in Mandarin and enjoys sharing his experiences as a second-generation Chinese-Canadian. In his spare time, Will enjoys mentoring young lawyers and students and writing and blogging about immigration related issues. His law blog, Vancouver Immigration Blog (www.vancouverimmigrationblog.com ), was awarded a 2015 Clawbie for “Best New Law Blog” and is widely-consulted within the Canadian immigration legal and policy community. Will is a Board Member and Mentorship Chair with the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers, British Columbia and a Committee Member of the City of Vancouver’s Cultural Communities Advisory Committee.

1) Road to Being an Immigration Lawyer –

Q: How did you transition into becoming an immigration lawyer?

2) Why Immigration Law?

Q: What are the benefits and challenges specific to practicing immigration law?

Q: Are you worried about pigeoning-holing yourself as a young practitioner?

3) Challenges of Being a Young Lawyer –

Q: How can a young lawyer stay competitive and provide value add in the immigration market?

Q: What type of skill sets does a young lawyer practitioner need?

Q: How has being of an immigrant background impacted your practice?

4) Value of Mentorship –

Q: why it is important to have a mentor when starting out?

Q: What arenas are there to access it?

Q: What advice do you have to senior practitioners looking to mentor a young immigration lawyer or retain immigration lawyers as associates?

5) Where you See Your Practice Going –

Q: What areas of immigration law are you particularly passionate about and hope to grow moving forward?

Q: Do you have a few examples of notable cases you have been involved in?

Q: How can people reach you?

You can contact Will Tao via e-mail: Will.Tao@larlee.com

Will’s Bio: http://www.larlee.com/lawyers/will-tao/

Larlee Rosenberg, Barristers and Solicitors: www.larlee.com

Will’s Blog –“Vancouver Immigration Blog”: http://vancouverimmigrationblog.com/[/spoiler]

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

This is the first in a series of episodes focused on the Canadian Provincial Nominee Programs. If you are considering immigrating to the Province of Manitoba, this episode will give you essential tips and strategies on how to improve your chances of securing a Provincial Nomination from the MPNP.

In this episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I spoke with Alastair Clarke who is an Immigration lawyer practicing in the Province of Manitoba located in the heart of Canada. While we touch on Alastair’s extensive experience, which encompasses all areas of immigration and refugee law, our main topic of discussion focuses on the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP). The Program is great for individuals who have connections to Manitoba, including family members, work experience, or study experience in the Province. However, without a solid connection, you will likely not have a viable shot at receiving a nomination.

Along with providing extensive insights into how the program works, Alastair touched on how it can be used to transition foreign workers (both low and high skill) into PR status in Canada. Alastair also shared his knowledge on the options available to those who may have a weaker connections to the Province.

During my interview with Alastair, we discuss the following areas:

• The Manitoba PNP
• Options for foreign nationals to immigrate with few connections
• How can the PNP be used to transition foreign workers
• Options for low-skill workers
• Where the MB PNP is headed in the future
• Practical tips for submitting applications to the MB PNP.

[Tweet “What options are available for immigration in your province?“]

Row of Granaries in Manitoba Canada Prairie

Time Stamped Quick Reference Guide

In order to help you jump to the areas of most interest to you, I have included below some time stamps for some of the significant topics covered in this episode.

3:57 – Who is Alastair Clarke?

11:28 – How he got into immigration.

16:30 – Overview of the Manitoba PNP.

18:37 – Are there any options available for foreign nationals to immigrate directly to MB without having first worked in the Province?

21:30 – How can the PNP be used to transition foreign workers to PR status in Canada?

26:52 – Are there any options for low-skill workers or is the program just restricted to skilled workers?

28:20 – Where do you see the MB PNP headed for the future? Any upcoming changes or things the listeners should be aware of?

39:06 – Top 3 practical tips for submitting applications OR Top 3 most common errors people make when submitting their applications to the MB PNP.

44:38 – How to contact Alastair Clarke.

Additional Resources:

• Clarke Immigration Law: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/
• Alastair’s e-mail: clarke@apply2manitoba.ca
• Alastair’s Blog: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/blog/
  • “Silly Rules” of Immigration Law: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/repost-silly-rules-immigration-law/
  • MPNP: From Temporary Status to PR Status: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/mpnp-temporary-status-pr-status/
  • MPNP: How to Apply …. and Tips: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/mpnp-how-to-apply/
• Western Canada Line Dance Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyanG4BelGg

Listen to Mark Holthe’s Canadian Immigration Podcast

Topics for our Next Podcast

Read the Transcript

You can read additional notes for this episode, [spoiler]

CIP S1 E25 – Alastair Clarke | MB PNP | Show Notes

Alastair Clarke

Immigration lawyer practicing in the Province of Manitoba located in the heart of Canada.

Manitoba is clearly the second best province in Canada. I lived there with my wife and two kids while I was attending law school at the University Manitoba.  My whole career got its start at Robson Hall.

Welcome Alastair  thanks for joining us.

Why don’t I start off by telling our listeners a little bit about you?

Alastair was born and raised in Edmonton, Canada. He has worked and lived in more than 20 cities around the world including Winnipeg (current home), Toronto (Canada), Montreal (Canada), Kingston (Canada), Victoria (Canada), Vancouver (Canada), New York City (USA), Washington, DC (USA), Tokyo (Japan), Esmeraldas (Ecuador), Brussels (Belgium), Herstmonceux (UK) and Bordeaux (France). Alastair provides legal services in English, French, Spanish and Japanese.

Alastair Clarke: Legal Experience

Alastair began working with immigration issues as a student leader at the University of Victoria in 1996. For almost 20 years, Alastair has been active with immigrant communities. Alastair’s current legal practice encompasses all areas of immigration and refugee law, including Manitoba Provincial Nominee (MPNP) applications [ which is the topic we will be covering today], family sponsorships, another temporary resident applications.

In addition, Alastair has extensive experience conducting hearings and appeals at all levels of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada and at the Federal Court of Canada including many sponsorship appeals, deportation appeals, misrepresentation appeals, and a whole host of others.

Alastair and I have quite a few things in common. He was also a former Junior High School teacher before becoming a lawyer.

Alastair’s broad work experience helps his clients from every corner of the globe:

Canadian Embassy (Washington, DC; 2002 – 2003);

Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Costa Rica; 2003);

Global Youth Action Network (New York City; 2003 – 2004);

United Nations Millennium Development Goals Project (New York City; 2004);

Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (Kingston, Ontario; 2007);

Society of Professional and Graduate Students (Queen’s University; 2007-2008)

Ontario Bar Association Executive (Toronto, Ontario; 2007 – 2008);

Briefly Speaking/ JUST Editorial Board (Toronto, Ontario; 2005 – 2012);

Unison Health and Community Services Legal Aid clinic (Toronto, Ontario; 2009 – 2013)

Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (Toronto, Ontario; 2012 – present);

Manitoba Bar Association (Winnipeg, Manitoba; 2013 – present)

Alastair’s career in law focuses on social justice issues, professionalism and fighting to make sure people are treated fairly. After graduating from one of Canada’s top law schools, Queen’s University (Faculty of Law) in Kingston, Ontario, he articled at Green and Spiegel LLP, an immigration law boutique on Bay Street in Toronto, Ontario.

From 2007 to the present, Alastair has provided more than 50 presentations, on a volunteer basis, to community groups, lawyers and paralegals. In particular, he trained Legal Clinic staff at their annual training retreats in 2009 and 2010, funded by Legal Aid Ontario. In 2012, Alastair joined the faculty at Seneca College in Toronto and taught Immigration and Refugee Law to post-graduate students. In Winnipeg, Alastair has provided guest lectures to law students at the University of Manitoba (Faculty of Law).

How did you get into immigration?

Topics covered in the Episode:

• What is the Manitoba PNP – General Overview

• Are there any options available for foreign nationals to immigrate directly to MB without having first worked in the Province?

• How can the PNP be used to transition foreign workers to PR status in Canada?

• Are there any options for low-skill workers or is the program just restricted to skilled workers?

• Where do you see the MB PNP headed for the future? Any upcoming changes or things the listeners should be aware of?

• Top 3 – 5 practical tips for submitting applications OR Top 3 – 5 most common errors people make when submitting their applications to the MB PNP.

How can people reach you?

Clarke Immigration Law: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/

Alastair’s e-mail: clarke@apply2manitoba.ca

Alastair’s Blog: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/blog/

• “Silly Rules” of Immigration Law: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/repost-silly-rules-immigration-law/
• MPNP: From Temporary Status to PR Status: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/mpnp-temporary-status-pr-status/
• MPNP: How to Apply …. and Tips: http://www.apply2manitoba.ca/mpnp-how-to-apply/

Western Canada Line Dance Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyanG4BelGg

[/spoiler]

Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes!

If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here.

Ask Mark an Immigration Question

Periodically I answer listener questions on my podcast. If you have a question, comment, thought or concern, you can do so by clicking here. We’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a voice message on the Ask an Immigration Question widget on the side bar of this website.

Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Have you ever had a problem with a Canadian immigration application and needed to speak with an officer to try to resolve the issue? I’ll bet you spent hours trying to get through to a live call centre agent…only to be told there was no way to speak with the officer actually processing your file. If you are like me, one of the most frustrating aspects of practicing immigration law is trying to have any meaningful communication with Canadian immigration authorities. The government has put up every possible roadblock they can think of to keep people from contacting them regarding their immigration applications.

In this Episode of the Canadian Immigration Podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Liz Wozniak who practices immigration out of her firm, North Star Immigration Law, located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Liz and the other lawyers in her firm handle all kinds of complex immigration issues for their clients. However, after my interview with Liz, the one thing that stood out most to me was the fact they cared enough about the practice of immigration law to offer Pro Bono assistance to people in a Province where no legal aide exists for immigration related matters.

Now don’t get me wrong, Liz and her colleagues do charge for the legal services they provide; however, they recognize the importance of helping those most vulnerable by paying forward the gift they have received in practicing Canadian immigration law.

In this spirit of giving, Liz took some time to visit with me about some of the best strategies she has developed over the years to communicate with the various Canadian immigration departments.

In most cases, immigration lawyers tend to hold these strategies pretty close to the vest…..however, Liz was generous enough to pull back the curtain a little bit so  as to help you and I understand what works and what doesn’t in this crazy world of communicating with Canadian Immigration authorities.

In my interview with Liz, we cover some great strategies in communicating with the government in the following circumstances:

• inland applications (IRCC);
• visa office’s abroad (IRCC);
• reporting abuse (ESDC/IRCC);
• labour market impact assessment applications (ESDC/Service Canada); and
• Canadian ports of entry (CBSA).

[Tweet “Trouble contacting #cdnimm- we’ll show you how!“]

Additional Resources:

• The best way to reach Elizabeth Wozniak : http://nsimmigration.ca/
• Liz’s Blog – http://nsimmigration.ca/lizs-blog/ 
• Case Specific Enquiry E-mail: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/contacts/web-form.asp
• Government Departments Discussed in the Podcast:
  • Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.asp
  • Temporary Foreign Worker Program (Service Canada/ ESDC): http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/foreign_workers/index.page
  • Canada Border Services Agency: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/menu-eng.html